


Could It Be Magic

by PR Zed (przed)



Category: Take That
Genre: AU, F/F, Gender or Sex Swap, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-29
Updated: 2013-11-29
Packaged: 2018-01-02 22:35:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 32,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1062448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/przed/pseuds/PR%20Zed
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The boys are magically thrown into another universe, and find they have more to deal with than just a different world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Could It Be Magic

**Author's Note:**

> This story was inspired by the [art](http://mad-lemming-89.livejournal.com/330638.html) from the lovely and talented [mad_lemming_89](http://mad-lemming-89.livejournal.com)

It happened in an instant.

Up until that instant, it had been a typical video shoot. Mark could see Howard and Jason off in a corner, chatting about God knew what. As Mark watched, Jason winked at one of the extras, a fit girl wearing not much of anything, and Howard frowned. So, no changes there. Gary was sitting at a table beside them, scribbling lyrics into the battered notebook he always carried with him. On the club's dance floor, Kim was talking to the director, while from somewhere in the depths of the club, Mark could hear their manager bellowing at someone who hadn't done something to exacting standards of Nigel Martin Smith.

"Fucking Nigel," Rob muttered beside him, and Mark could only nod and look down at the ground and pray that Nigel didn't make them his next target.

But then there was a flash in his vision, almost as if the light had come from behind his eyes themselves, and he suddenly felt uncomfortable, unsteady, felt as if his skin was too tight, as if lightning had passed through his body. 

He blinked and reached a hand back to clutch at the bar behind him, to balance himself. He looked up at the brace of extras in front of him, and was struck by the thought that they'd changed. Had he seen that girl in the striped jumper before? Had he talked to her; had he danced with her in one shot?

He was distracted by a hand on his shoulder.

"Fuck me, Markie," Rob said. "You're a girl."

Mark's head whipped around to face Rob. Except where Rob had been standing, there was now a tall, dark-haired, green-eyed girl. A girl who was wearing Rob's ridiculous pimp hat and his long black coat. A girl's whose face was impossibly familiar to him.

"So are you, Rob." He reached out and grabbed Rob's arm. "So are you."

* * *

For Howard, it was as if the world had hiccoughed.

He was leaning against the wall, talking to Jason while they were waiting for their turn in front of the camera. Howard had spent the last ten minutes ignoring the hollow feeling that opened up in his stomach every time Jason flashed a smile or a wink at the girl he was shortly meant to be sharing a very public shower with.

But then there was a shuddering in the air, like the world was a film stuck in a projector, jumping and shaking. Then the shuddering stopped, but it wasn't Jay in front of him anymore. It was a girl. A girl who was wearing Jay's vest, with a skimpy tube top underneath. A girl who had Jay's blue eyes and long lashes and skinny, muscular frame. The same everything, except-

"You've got tits, Jay." He looked down. "I've got tits." He turned and looked around the room to where Mark and Rob had been, to where Gaz had been sitting. "Fuck, we've all got tits."

* * *

Gary honestly didn't notice that anything had happened. He was trying to nail down a lyric that had been driving him mad all day. He had his eyes clenched closed, and was banging his pencil against the back of his skull. As if that might jar something loose, might release some scrap of inspiration.

But then a hand clutched at his elbow, distracting him, and a voice that was both familiar and wrong called his name.

"Gaz!"

"Not now, Dougie. I've nearly got this line, and that'll give me the verse."

"Bugger the line and the verse, Gaz. Open your eyes."

"Fuck off," he started to say, as he pulled his arm away and opened his eyes. But all that came out was a choked off "fu," because instead of Howard, he found himself looking at a tall, curly-haired girl with Howard's eyes and mouth. He felt his jaw drop and he tried to speak again and failed, his voice having disappeared completely.

"Are you okay, Gaz?" Another girl appeared at Howard's side, and this one looked like Jason, and that made it worse somehow, that both of them were girls. He looked over to where Mark and Rob had been, and yeah, where his band mates had been were two more girls dressed more or less in the clothes Mark and Rob had been wearing, staring at each other with the same kind of shock Gary was feeling.

But if the others were girls...He looked down and saw a body he didn't recognize, with curves where there should have been none.

"What the hell?" he whispered. Then louder: "What the fuck? What is this? What's going on?" He felt the panic grow like a living creature, winding itself around him, squeezing out all thought and calm until he was mere seconds from going to pieces.

"Look at me, Gaz." Jason was quickly at his side, warm hand on Gary's shoulder. "Look at my eyes, and take a deep breath." Gary tried to follow Jason's directions, even as his body was telling his heart to beat faster, his lungs to draw in air more quickly, his brain to stop functioning, to run, run, RUN, because this couldn't be real, it just couldn't.

"What-" he started to say, even though he wasn't even sure what question he wanted to ask.

"We're girls, Gaz," Jason said firmly, his voice not that different from his male one. "I don't know how or why, but we are. And we've got to deal with that. Do you understand?"

Gary tried to nod, but he it was as if his body was controlled by a distant puppeteer, and he couldn't even manage so much as a nod.

"What the fuck's going on?" There was Mark at Jason's side, and Rob behind him.

"Gary's losing it," Howard said, then quickly looked around the club.

"Of course he's losing it," Mark said. "I'm fucking losing it. We're _girls_!"

"Take it easy, Mark." Jason moved to his side and took hold of his arm. "We've got to get out of here before someone notices something's wrong."

"Before Nigel notices, you mean." Rob's tone managed the trick of being equal parts sarcastic and scared.

"I don't suppose any of us want to run into Nigel like this," Jason said sharply. "Howard, you and Rob get Gaz to his feet. Mark, you stay with me. There shouldn't be anyone in the cloak room just now."

With Rob on one side, and Howard on the other, Gary felt himself heaved to his feet, and then hustled to the front of the club and into the cloak room. As Jason had predicted, it was empty. He was pushed to the back, navigating empty clothes racks rattling with hangers, and then there was just the five of them, the chaos of the club a distant rumble in the background.

Gary finally found his feet and his voice, and pulled away from Howard and Rob's supporting hands.

"What the fuck is going on, Jay?"

"I don't know."

"We're girls. It's impossible, but we're girls." He started pacing the limited confines of the room.

"It's happened, so it's not impossible." Gary could have slapped Jason for being so calm, for approaching this madness like one of his fucking philosophical questions.

"It _is_ impossible." Gary kept himself from screaming, but only just. "We can't work like this. We can't perform. We can't do our fucking jobs."

"We'll have to find a way to get our own bodies back."

"And how are we going to do that, when we don't even know how it happened in the first place?" 

"I'll tell you what," Mark broke in. "We can't stay here. We can't let anyone see us like this."

"Where are we going to go?" Gary said. "We're wearing ridiculous clothes, and we're in London, not Manchester. I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't have any money on me, and I don't think we can just ask James and Paul to drive us home. Not like this. They'd never believe we're us. _I_ don't quite believe we're us."

"I think I know where Nigel put the petty cash box," Howard said, and they all turned to him. "You know, for buying coffee and lunch for the shoot. I could go out, pretend to be one of the extras and grab the box-"

"Steal it, you mean," said Gary.

"Grab it, "Howard said firmly, "and then we could use the money to book into a hotel. Figure out what to do from there."

It wasn't much of a plan, but none of them had any better. So while the rest of them watched, Howard crept out and began working his way around the club. When he was halfway across the dance floor, and heading towards the corner where he'd seen the cash box, Gary thought he was going to get away with it. But then a vaguely familiar-looking woman appeared in the crowd and grabbed Howard by the arm, and he knew they were fucked. Howard tensed in the woman's grip as she spoke to him, then looked in their direction. They all instinctively ducked deep into the cloak room.

"What should we do?" Mark squeaked.

"We should run," Rob said, his voice tinged with panic. "Right now."

"We can't leave Howard," Jason insisted. "What do you think, Gaz?"

But then there was movement at the door, and Howard and the woman stood between them and any hope of escape. 

"There you all are," the woman said. She was short, a bit stocky, and wearing clothes that were more fashionable than her frame could carry off. "I don't even want to know why you're all hiding in here, but we're just about ready to get the next shots. Marcia, Kim's got your next set up ready on the dance floor." She looked at Mark as she spoke. "Roberta, you and Jay are next up. Gayle," she turned to Gary, "you'll be doing the next verse in ten minutes. Ally here will be up after you."

As she spoke, Gary had a slowly creeping epiphany. This wasn't just any woman. This was Nigel. Or at least, what Nigel would be as a woman. But unlike them, she didn't seem to have any idea that she shouldn't be a woman.

"Well, don't all stand there with your mouths gaping open like fish on a hook. Go!" She made a shooing motion towards the interior of the club. And trained by three years of obedience to Nigel Martin Smith, they all went, scattering in the directions indicated.

As he walked through the club, Gary realized that things were even more impossible than he'd imagined. They'd been dumped into a world where everyone was the opposite sex. It was like the alternate universe episode of Star Trek. Except instead of everyone being evil, they were girls instead of boys, or vice versa. He did a double take as he passed a young man who must have been the male version of Nigel's assistant, Ying. 

He wished it was like Star Trek. It would have been easier to deal with evil Spock's beard than being a girl.

They had to get out of here. And soon.

* * *

Rob left the cloak room with his heart hammering in his chest. It seemed it didn't matter if Nigel was male or female, he always scared the fuck out of Rob. He followed Jay across the dance floor, searching the faces of everyone they came across. Was that fit young woman really a man in their universe? And was that boy the girl he'd tried to snog behind the bar? It was all making his head spin.

He reached the edge of the dance floor, and watched as Kim, now a woman, though just as calm and serious as he'd ever been, ran Mark through the moves for the next shot as the director arranged for the camera placement. He watched as Mark danced for the camera, the extras surging enthusiastically behind him. Or her, really. 

They'd always joked that Mark was as pretty as a girl, but now that he really was a girl, he was gorgeous. The cut off t-shirt that had seemed a bit daft on a boy looked fucking amazing with tits underneath it, and with the finer-boned features of a girl and pony-tails, Mark was beautiful.

"He's pretty, isn't he?" Jason said at his side, making Rob startle. It was too much as if Jay was reading his mind, though he quickly tried to hide any discomfort.

Yeah," Rob said, before turning an evil leer on Jay. "But so are you."

"Fuck off, Roberta." Jason rolled his eyes.

"Why do I have to be Roberta, but you still get to be Jay?" It just wasn't fair.

"It's probably for Jayne or Janice or something." Jason turned to Howard. "What I want to know is why you're Ally?"

Howard mumbled something they couldn't hear over the music playback, and looked down at the floor.

"What?" Rob asked.

"My mum always said they thought I was going to be a girl and were going to call me Allison."

"You know we're never going to let you forget that," Rob said with a grin.

"I don't doubt it, _Roberta_ ," Jason said, never missing an opportunity to get under Rob's skin.

Rob was just gearing up a nasty response when Kim called his name. His girl's name, anyway.

"Roberta, get over here. It's your turn."

He stuck his tongue out at Jay, then headed for the dance floor, as Mark left it. When he drew alongside each other, Mark gave him a hug and whispered in his ear. "Watch the tits. They jiggle when you dance." A kiss on Rob's neck, and he was gone, leaving Rob facing Kim with his face feeling hot with embarrassment. He wasn't sure what was worse: dealing with having tits himself, or being made all too aware that Mark had them too. 

Because being forced to consider both things, he was suddenly struck by so many other things. Especially, the one thing he'd never let himself consider before: what it might be like to snog Mark.

Shit. How the fuck was he going to get through this day? And how the fuck was he going to deal with it if they never found a way to get back to their own universe?

* * *

For Jason, the whole day passed in a surreal blur. He stuck as close as he could to Howard, to all the other boys. Or girls. He was getting confused in this world. He still felt like a boy, but his body was giving him all the wrong signals. And he still considered the boys, well, boys, but it was getting increasingly hard with them all in girls' bodies.

One thing he wasn't confused about was his need to avoid Nigel. Or Nigella as everyone here called him. Her. Whatever. The boys were still his friends, whether they had tits or cocks, and Nigel, Nigella, whatever, was the enemy.

Another thing that hadn't changed was the amount of work expected from them. The director, who'd been Charles in their world and was Charlotte in this one, was burning through shot set ups, getting more footage than it seemed possible they'd need for a bleeding music video, but Jason knew they'd need all that and more. And he knew things were going too slowly. They were all clumsier in these bodies than they'd been in their own. Jason's balance was off, centred in his hips, not his chest, and he'd seen all the boys stumble and cock up shots. More than they usually did. He knew they were falling behind, knew that they were going to have to go an extra day, knew that the expenses were going to pile up for the record company, and for them. And that meant that a bollocking was inevitable.

By six they were all wrung out and leaning against the bar as the crew surged around them. Jason had done the shower scene that he'd planned out the day before in their world, but with a hard-bodied young man instead of the fit girl he'd been expecting. It had been unexpectedly sexy. 

At one point, he'd seen Howard watching from the sidelines, wearing the same frown he always did when Jason was flirting with girls. Howard's disapproval had spurred him on, and he'd given him a wink and ground his wet crotch against the young man he was sharing the scene with. 

Howard had disappeared for a few minutes after that, but he came back soon enough. Now, as they waited for Nigella to tell them if they were going to break for the night or push on, he leaned against Howard, the one steady point in this insane universe.

Then they saw Nigella heading in their direction.

"Steady on," Howard whispered in his ear as Jason tensed up. 

He knew what was coming. Knew that Nigella was going to give them a bollocking for not being fast enough, not getting through the shoot, for costing them all more money, for being bloody stupid, and bloody lazy, and why hadn't she hired four others boys from Manchester. (Gary was Nigel's golden boy, and was _never_ included in the bollockings.) He felt ill, and wondered briefly what would happen if he bolted. But that was just putting off the inevitable, so he put one hands on Howard's shoulder and tried to keep breathing.

"Well done, girls," Nigella said with a smile. "Charlotte says she's got some really great shots."

Around him, Jason could see the others relaxing, but he didn't. They'd seen Nigel go from charming to vicious one too many times.

"But we are running a bit late."

Here it came.

"No one's fault, of course, these things happen. I've been on to the label, and told them we'll need an extra day, and they're fine with it. And Lou's agreed to come in to do his part in the morning, so we're set there."

Lou? My god, Lulu was a man in this universe. That was going to be interesting.

"I was hoping we'd be back to Manchester tonight, but we'll need to stay in the city, so I've had the label book us all into the Savoy. No expense spared for my girls."

She smiled again, and however much he tried to find it, Jason could see no sign of the malice, the spite, the cruelty of their Nigel in Nigella. 

And then Nigella deviated completely and utterly from Nigel's usual script.

"You should all get a good night's sleep. No partying. But if you do go out, do remember to bring condoms with you. And don't forget your birth control pills in the morning. The last thing I need is one of you girls getting pregnant. It would make the dance routines murder."

Fucking hell. Jason honestly thought he was having a stroke. He couldn't move, couldn't speak, could only stare at this woman who looked so much like Nigel and yet acted nothing like him with open-mouthed amazement.

"What about the no-sex rule?" Rob managed to squeak out.

"The what?" Now it was Nigella who looked surprised.

"You know," Mark piped up. "No sex, no girl...um, boyfriends?"

"You girls know my rules: work hard, be careful and be safe. Especially you two." She pointed at Mark and Rob. "You're just barely legal. Your mums'll kill me if anything happens to you." She crossed her arms and looked incredulous. "No sex and no girl or boyfriends, that's just stupid. None of you could follow that rule for long."

As his brain was trying to remember how to speak, Jason was interested to note that Nigella hadn't batted an eye at Mark's mistake about girlfriends. Which was...interesting.

Nigella shook her head and reached into her back pocket.

"Anyway, I've got your keycards for the hotel." She began handing out the small white envelopes from her hand. "The room numbers are on the envelopes. Paula will take you over in a minute." She held a card out to Jason, then gave Howard a wink. "Jay, I've put you and Ally together. It'll save the record company some dosh, and I didn't think you'd mind."

Jason was back to being speechless again. Did she mean...was she implying...

"You put us together?" Howard blurted out.

"Yeah. Unless..." Nigella put a hand on Howard's shoulder in what appeared to be an honestly sympathetic gesture. "You two haven't broken up, have you? You've both seemed a bit off today."

"Broken up?" Howard looked confused and possibly horrified. And Jason found he'd suddenly re-discovered his voice.

"'Course we haven't broken up." Jason grabbed the card, and then put an arm around Howard's waist. "Have we, How- Ally?"

Jason could feel Howard trembling in his grip, but he didn't show it. He just shook his head, then gave Nigella a weak smile.

"That's good. You two give me hope that I'll find my own happy ending." And as if that wasn't quite enough information to take on, Nigella delivered one final bombshell. "Speaking of happy endings, I've seen your young man looking for you, Gayle."

"My young man?" Gaz looked like Jason felt, totally discombobulated.

"You know, Don. That shy, blond dancer you've been dating forever. What is wrong with all of you today? I'll tell him you're on the way to the hotel the next time I see him."

"Don?" Gaz said, his skin taking on a decidedly green cast.

"We're a couple?" Howard said, looking at Jason with panicked eyes.

"We can have sex whenever we want?" Rob said, and Jason had to give him credit for always behaving like Rob, no matter how mad the situation was.

Nigella looked at them all and shook her head.

"Honestly, it's like someone dropped all of you on your heads today," Nigella said. "Still, nothing a good night's sleep won't help." Then she looked straight at Jason. "Jay, could I have a word?"

She took his arm in a firm grip, and pulled him over to a quiet alcove beside the bar. 

"I wanted to apologize for not keeping up with your lessons," she said with an apologetic smile. "Things have been so hectic with us getting ready for the single release. But I wanted to let you know we can do a short one tonight."

Jason felt a cold crawling under his skin at Nigella's words. He'd just started to hope that he could believe in her, that she actually had their best interests at heart, but now it seemed she was just like Nigel. He'd never told the others exactly what he'd gone through with Nigel, how from his auditions on their manager had taken every opportunity to ogle him, to touch him in ways that weren't so bad that Jason could complain, but always left him feeling violated. As they'd grown more popular, and he'd felt that he was a bit less vulnerable to sacking, he'd fought more to avoid such solitary meetings with Nigel, but they still happened.

And now it seemed Nigella was as predatory as Nigel had ever been. And in this universe, it seemed he'd put up with it.

"Could we do it some other time, Nigella. I'm just knackered," he said, hoping fatigue would be enough of an excuse to get out of a "lesson."

"That's perfect!" Nigella lit up. "I've been wanting to work on rejuvenation with you for ages. We'll have you right as rain in no time." She patted him on the shoulder, and he tried not to flinch under her touch. "I'll give you half an hour after we get to the hotel, then I'll pop by your room."

Rejuvenation? He wondered what horror that was code for. But he didn't ask. He just nodded, feeling his shoulders hunch in, feeling his head droop, and not able to do a thing about it. 

"Off you go." Nigella gave him a shove in the direction he'd left the boys. "I'll tell Paula you're all ready to go to the hotel. I need to finish up here."

Jason headed back towards the others, feeling like a convicted man heading towards the gallows.

* * *

Howard leaned against the bar and tried not to lose it. He'd thought he'd been doing pretty well, handling this world. He'd dealt with having tits that jiggled when you walked, and dealt with not having a cock and sitting down to pee, and dealt with Nigel being Nigella. But somehow, finding out that Jay was his boyfriend, or girlfriend, had knocked him for six. He clutched at the edge of the bar and tried to stop the shaking in his legs as the boys chattered around him. 

Rob was practically bouncing, he was so excited about the sex thing. Mark, as usual, was letting himself get carried along by Rob's enthusiasm. And Gary was drumming his fingers on his leg, looking around with a worried expression as if he was afraid his "young man" would ambush him any second. 

And Jason...he was off talking with Nigella. Which was good, really. Gave Howard a chance to calm down, to figure out why he was so fucking worried about this. Because it wasn't like this was really about _them_ , was it? It was the other thems. The ones whose bodies they were borrowing for the moment. The ones who really were girls and girlfriends. The ones who really were gay.

He wasn't gay. He'd been telling himself that since he'd joined the band. Since he'd started getting called gay and bent and a poof by boys he'd run into on the street. Since they'd started playing the gay clubs and he'd secretly realized how much fun it was, being admired and appreciated by an audience of men. Since he'd got closer and closer to all the boys. To Jason. No, he definitely wasn't gay.

_But you could be_ , a voice whispered in his head. _For Jason_.

"Fuck off," Howard mumbled to the voice, earning a frown from Gary. "Not you," he explained.

But just as he was working up to throwing a serious wobbly, Jason moved away from Nigella and returned to where they all were, and he looked...broken. That was the only way to put it. Nigella seemed calm, but Jason looked like he did when Nigel had put him through a really bad bollocking. He avoided looking at any of them, his shoulders drawn in, his mouth compressed into a thin line. And that quickly, Howard felt his own worries evaporate like the ridiculous things they were. Because as confused as he was about his feelings for Jason, there was one thing he was never confused about: Jason was his friend, and he only wanted the best for him.

"You okay?" he said as he moved to Jason's side.

Jason nodded, which was good, and shrugged, which was bad. But before he could say anything else, Paula was standing in front of them all, car keys in her hand, and a smile on her face.

"Time to saddle up, ladies," she said. "Your chariot awaits."

The weird thing about Paul in security having become Paula in security was how much it wasn't weird. This world's Paula was the same as their world's Paul. She was imposing, and friendly, and ready to defend any one of them to the death. (Just an hour ago, she'd had words with an extra who'd decided to maul Markie in a crowd scene, then had chucked the wanker out of the club as if she were tossing out a pillow.)

Paula hustled them all out the back door of the club and into a limo, and then they were on their way, driving past Waterloo Station and across the river.

Jason was silent the whole way, though Howard wasn't sure the others noticed. Rob and Mark were chattering enough for all of them, and Gaz seemed to be having a bit of a brood. They pulled into the back entrance of the Savoy, and spilled out in the loading bay, only to be guided by a smartly suited hotel employee through staff corridors to a freight elevator, and then to their rooms.

Paula ushered him and Jason to their room, where through the magic of five-star service, they found their bags waiting for them, and then it was just him and Jason in a luxury suite.

Jason seemed to barely register his surroundings. He toed off his shoes and sat on the bed, a super king-sized monstrosity that could have easily held the whole band and half their dancers, pulling his knees up to his chin in a way that was setting off all sorts of warning bells for Howard.

He sat beside Jason, not even sure where to start.

"Are you hungry, Jay? Should I get room service?"

"No."

"Okay." He stood up and paced the room, looking for the right words to say. But he'd never been the clever one, never been subtle, so he settled for asking the obvious question.

"What did Nigella say to you?"

Jason kept his gaze straight ahead, kept his arms wrapped around his legs, and swallowed once before he spoke.

"She wants me to do a lesson with her." Jason's voice was tight and low, as if it was coming from a long distance away.

"What sort of lesson?" Howard asked carefully.

"She didn't say." And then, finally, Jason looked at him. He looked utterly terrified, as if his worst fear had been realized.

Howard was about to make a joke about it, to jolly Jason out of this mood, when he had a flash of memory from over a year ago. He remembered coming into Nigel's office and finding Nige sitting on the desk with Jay in front of him. Jay's shirt had been unbuttoned and his eyes had gone blank. He hadn't thought anything about it at the time, but now he remembered how Jason had flushed when Howard had come in, how he'd pushed past Howard without saying a word and then avoided him the rest of the day. How there'd been other times when he'd found Nigel alone with Jason, or noticed Jason deliberately avoiding Nige. And now that he could see the pattern, he felt sick.

"Jay?" He had to ask, couldn't not ask, but he wasn't sure how he was even going to be able to form the words.

"Yeah?" Jason was just sitting there, chewing on his lip.

"Did Nige ever-"

Two things happened simultaneously. Jason's head whipped away, hiding his eyes from Howard, and there was a knock on the door.

"Jay, love, are you ready?"

Jason's face hadn't had a lot of colour to begin with, but it lost what little it had at the sound of Nigella's voice.

Howard grabbed Jason's arm.

"You don't have to go," he whispered. He hadn't protected Jason before, had been too clueless to even realize he was in need of protection, but he didn't want to fail him now.

Jay put his hand over Howard's and squeezed.

"Yeah, I do," he said, his expression quietly desperate. Then dropped his arms, unfolded his legs, walked across the suite and opened the door.

"I hope you don't mind me borrowing Jay," Nigella said, sweeping into the room with a smile.

Howard shook his head, and ground his teeth, and convinced himself that beating Nigella to a pulp wouldn't do Jason any good.

"C'mon, dear." She tucked Jason's arm under hers and started leading him out of the room. "I think you'll enjoy this lesson. Don't wait up for us, Ally."

The last thing Howard saw before the door closed was Jason looking back at him, his eyes filled with horror.

"Fuck!" He kicked over the luggage stand lurking in the corner of the room, sending it skittering across the carpet. He felt like he'd just seen his best friend dragged off to the wars. And he'd let it happen.

Adrenaline surged through his system. He wanted nothing so much as to run down the hall, break Nigella's door down, and pull Jason out, but he couldn't. Because what if he was wrong? What if the horrible images playing out in his mind weren't happening, had never happened? He'd never be able to face any of them again.

But he bloody well _was_ going to wait up for Jay. That much was certain.

He paced the room some more, unable to even think of settling down. But then his stomach growled, reminding him he hadn't eaten for God knew how long. So he called room service and got them to send up a burger, and paced while he was waiting for it, and paced after he'd finished.

But adrenaline and fear could only carry him so far, and he finally had to sit down on the bed. And then he sprawled. And the next thing he knew he was being shaken awake by a girl who looked an awful lot like Jason.

"Wake up, How," the girl said, and as he blinked, he realized this _was_ Jay.

"I'm awake," he insisted, sitting up. "Are you okay?"

Jason smiled at him, a real "Jason Orange, all's right with the world" sort of smile.

"I'm bloody brilliant, Dougie," Jay said. "You'll never guess what Nigella's teaching me. Well, the other me, anyway. Never in a million years."

* * *

Mark barely had time to look around the rather posh room Paula had installed him in when there was a knock on the door.

"Markie," Rob said, and none too quietly. "Open up."

"Shhh," Mark said as he pulled Rob inside. "I'm meant to be Marcia, remember. What if Paula hears you."

"Sorry, _Marcia_." Rob pulled a face. "Sounds funny, that does. You don't look like a Marcia. Maybe a Christine." Rob's eyes widened. "Or a Kylie. You'd make a brilliant Kylie." He frowned. "I wonder if Kylie is a man in this world." 

"I'm sure she is. Sounds like Lulu is."

"That's going to be weird, Lulu being a man." He shrugged. "But not as weird as Howard and Jason being girlfriends."

"That's not weird," Mark said, because it wasn't. It made sense. He'd spent the last three years watching Howard pine after Jason, and Jason be oblivious about the pining.

"What?" Rob looked honestly shocked. "The rate Howard pulls birds, there's no way he's gay."

"Well, he's pulled a bird here, hasn't he?"

"He's pulled Jason. Not the same thing."

"But Jay's a bird here."

"Bloody hell, Mark. Are you trying to mix me up?" But then he stopped and got a look on his face that Mark knew meant trouble was coming. "'Ang on, I've just remembered something."

"What?" Mark started to say, but before he could get the word out, Rob had moved in close, grabbed him, and kissed him. And it wasn't one of his usual before-the-show-starts kisses either. It was a proper snog, the kind of snog Mark had seen him give plenty of girls.

Mark tried to push him away for all of a second, but then he gave up and went with it. It was, he had to admit, not the worst sensation he'd ever felt. Not by a long shot. In fact, it was rather nice. Rob was as good a kisser as he'd always insisted.

The kiss went on, and Mark was beginning to wonder where it might end up when Rob finally broke off and gave him a grin.

"Why'd you do that?" Mark asked, even as he half wanted to ask _Why'd you stop_?

"'Cause I remembered what I've always said, that I'd go out with you if you were a girl. And you are one!"

"So are you!" Mark gave him a push.

"Doesn't matter. I don't feel like a girl." He wriggled, as if he were confirming how his skin felt. "And I still like girls. Don't you?"

"Feel like a girl, or like girls?" Mark asked.

"Either." Rob shrugged. "Both."

"I feel like me." He stretched and then rested his hands briefly on his tits. "Sort of. And I suppose I still like girls." He wasn't about to tell Rob that he'd always had a thing for boys as well, even if he'd never acted on it. "Mostly I'm just sort of confused." And wasn't that a fucking understatement.

"Confused can be fun, Markie."

"Or it can just be confusing." He gave Rob a shove. "Why're you here, Rob?"

"We're breaking out of prison. Let's go hit a few clubs, have a few drinks." He reached into the purse Mark now noticed he was holding, a big, gaudy purple thing that somehow suited Rob, or Roberta, down to the ground. "Shag a few blokes." He pulled a box of condoms out of the purse and waggled his eyebrows.

"Fucking hell, Rob. How much sex are you planning on having?"

"All there is, Markie. All there is. I want to know what it feels like for girls." He shook the box. "And anyway, some of these are for you."

"Me?" Mark felt his voice go up several octaves.

"You. Don't you want to know what it feels like for girls?"

"I suppose." The thought was terrifying and exciting all at once.

"Then come on. Put on your party clothes and let's go."

Getting ready took longer than Rob liked. Marcia seemed to be even more of a clothes horse than Mark, and Mark took ages finding just the right outfit, the right shoes, the right makeup, the right bra. "Crikey, I'd never thought about choosing bras before."

But finally he was dressed, and they were ready to go.

Even if Nigella didn't have a no-sex rule, they still felt the need to sneak out of the hotel, but they'd both had so much experience doing it under Nigel's rule that it was second nature. So soon enough they'd slipped past Jamie and Paul and into the freight elevator and before they knew it they were out on the street and slipping into the West End.

Rob was the one who chatted with some kids in Trafalgar Square, who got the address of the likeliest club, who had them both in a taxi before Mark knew quite what had hit him. 

They were spared the line up at the club, though Mark wasn't sure if it was because the bouncer knew who they were or just because they were young and fit and pretty. And then they were descending into the neon-lit darkness, music throbbing so loud he could feel it in his chest.

He sensed it as they entered the club, the ripple of interest moving through the crowd that told him they'd been noticed, they'd been recognized. He could still remember the first time that had happened, how chuffed they'd all been to be almost famous with the promise of more fame to come. These days there was always a thread of fear underlying that moment. There was always the possibility that the girls were going to turn into a ravening pack and tear them apart. Or that the boys were going to spit on them or mock them or try to pick a fight with them.

Mark moved closer to Rob's side. This had been a bad idea. They shouldn't have come. Or they should have brought Paula with them, or someone else from the security team. He pulled at Rob's arm and hung back. It wasn't too late. They hadn't been noticed by too many people. They could still leave and no harm done. He opened his mouth to tell Rob they should leave, but then he looked at the people around them and stopped.

Something was different.

The girls in this club weren't like the girls in their world. They weren't looking at them like they were pieces of bloody meat they wanted to rip their teeth into. They were looking at them with something that looked like respect. Like they admired them. Like they looked up to them.

Dropping Rob's arm, Mark found himself standing a bit straighter, pulling back his shoulders, feeling a bit proud.

Then there were the boys. There was no contempt in their eyes, no desire to rip them down. There were no threatening mutters, no clenched fists.

But there was something else, something unexpected: desire. Hunger. 

The boys were looking at them like he must have looked at so many girls. Like they were imagining what they'd look like naked, what it would be like to fuck them. It was unnerving and exhilarating all at once. It stirred up both fear and a craving deep in his bones.

He turned to Rob, and found him looking into the crowd with a grin that was at least as predatory as the expressions of the boys surrounding them.

"This," Rob said with a lick of his lips, "is going to be fun."

* * *

It was a brilliant night.

They didn't pay for a single drink, and were never short of dance partners, male or female. Rob let himself be snogged by several handsome boys, and snogged one or two pretty girls. And he saw Mark indulging as much as he was, and looking beautiful doing it. Perhaps when the night was over, when they were back in their own room, he'd shag Markie, too. The thought made him smile.

Some time after midnight, they fell in with a group of posh boys and girls who seemed to be drinking nothing but Dom Perignon.

After an hour of their company, one of the girls grabbed his hand and began pulling him towards the club's door.

"Derek's invited us all back to his flat," she shouted into his ear. "You've got to come. Both of you." 

Rob looked over and saw one of the more handsome of the boys—Derek?—had Mark's hand and was pulling him towards the exit as well. He caught Mark's eye, and they both grinned. And just like that, they found themselves in a cab heading towards Knightsbridge.

Derek's flat was as posh as his accent, all marble floors and antique furniture.

"Gaz would love this place," Mark whispered in Rob's ear, and he wasn't wrong. It was like something out of one of the bloody architectural magazines Gary was always reading when they were on tour.

The living room was huge, and before Rob knew what was going on, the group was clearing the furniture out of the middle and forming themselves into a rough circle.

"Join hands, everyone," Derek was saying. "I think we should give our new friends a special welcome, don't you?"

There was laughing and clapping, and Rob found himself across the circle from Mark, holding the hands of a tall, dark-haired bloke on one side and the girl who'd invited him on the other. Derek was holding Mark's hand, and Rob wasn't quite sure he liked that, or the admiring way Markie was looking at their host.

"Positive energy, everyone," Derek said, and then he began to chant in some language Rob couldn't even place as they all began to spin in a circle. Faster and faster they whirled around the room, and Derek's chant rose with them. Then some of the others began to join in the chant, echoing Derek's words and providing a counterpoint to them like the boys did to Gary's vocals.

Rob felt lightheaded, and it wasn't just from the alcohol or the spinning, he was sure of it. There was a tremendous roar, the sensation of being swept by an immense and unstoppable wind.

"Holy shit," he said.

Nobody was fucking going to believe them if they told them about this. No fucking way.

* * *

_"Your young man is looking for you."_

Gary kept hearing Nigella say those words, over and over in his head as he sat in his hotel room. He didn't want a young man, not this Don bloke. Not anyone. He might look like a girl, but he still felt like himself, and the person he was had never wanted a boy in his life.

He seriously considered bolting, grabbing his jacket and running away from the hotel and Nigella and Don. But where would he go? Instead he settled for ordering room service, eating at the table in the room with one eye on the door.

He was finishing his meal when there was a hesitant tapping at his hotel door, so quiet it was almost inaudible. Gary debated ignoring it. He didn't want to meet his young man, didn't want to deal with the fact that in this world he had a boyfriend. That would mean he had to think about being a girl, and he most definitely didn't want to think about that. 

But then the tap was repeated, and he felt he had to answer. He might be a successful pop star in two worlds, but his mum had raised him to always be polite.

He padded over to the door on bare feet and opened it slowly. On the other side, a thin young man with floppy blond hair and a handsome face smiled at him shyly.

"'Lo, Gayle. Nigella told me you were here. Can I come in?"

This was Don. Looking at him, Gary had a flash of recognition. He knew who this was. Don was Dawn. Dawn Andrews, a dancer he'd met on that bloody Kurtis Rush video shoot, the only good thing about that experience. She'd been pretty and talented and so shy she'd barely talked to anyone the whole day. He'd thought she was lovely, but the one time he'd tried to talk to her, she'd turned red, run into her dressing room, and slammed the door.

He wondered what had changed in this world that they'd managed to get together. Was Don less shy than Dawn? Had Gayle been more insistent than he'd been?

"Of course," he stammered out, then ushered him in.

"You've eaten," Don said, looking at the remains of his meal on the table.

"Yeah, I was starving," Gary said, then realized he might have had some arrangement with Don about meals. "I can order you something. If you like."

"No." Don shook his head. "I'm fine. They had catering at the shoot." He put one hand on Gary's shoulder, and Gary struggled not to shudder under his touch. "Why don't we sit down?" He rubbed his hand tenderly down Gary's back. "You seem awfully tense."

Gary nearly started laughing at that. Because tense didn't begin to cover the way he felt. Instead he nodded, and led Don to the sofa in the room, where they sat beside each other in a silence that grew increasingly awkward.

"Are you okay?" Don finally asked. "Because I can go if you're not feeling well. If you don't want me here." He started to stand, and looked so miserable that Gary instinctively reached out to grab his hand.

"No!" He pulled Don down to sit beside him. "Don't go. I'm just knackered. It's been a long day."

"Yeah." The shy smile came back, and Gary found himself smiling as well. "Kim had us all on the hop. Kept coming up with choreography for us to use in the background. Not that anyone would ever really see it. But you know Kim."

"I know Kim." Gary laughed. It seemed like Kim Gavin was the same in both worlds, whether male or female. It was good to know there was some consistency in these two universes. 

The ice broken, the words flowed between them without any awkwardness at all. Gary found he could actually talk to Don as easily as he could to the other boys. Maybe even more easily. 

But then Don let his words trail off again, and Gary was worried they were going to be back to the awkward silences again. He leaned forward to ask if anything was wrong, and Don leaned in as well and started kissing him.

It was the oddest feeling, being kissed by a man, by someone with stubble, someone who was a bit taller, a bit broader, a bit stronger. Odd, but not awful. Not awful at all. Quite wonderful, in fact.

He could do this. He could have a boyfriend, in this world, anyway. 

Laughing, he stood and pulled Don over to the bed with him, and they both collapsed on it, rolling together. It was only when Don reached out and started unbuttoning his top that he balked again.

He reached for the light and cast the room into darkness.

"Let's do this by touch," he said, making what he hoped was a plausible excuse, when he was really just hiding from the situation. He could kiss Don, but if it was going to come down to them getting naked together, he wasn't sure he wanted to be able to see anything.

Don didn't complain, just finished unbuttoning his top and resumed kissing him. Then Don unhooked his bra, and began caressing his breasts, and Gary thought his head was going to explode.

He'd never paid attention to his nipples before, but now he suspected he'd been missing a lot, because this felt amazing. He could understand why girls melted when he did this to them, and he wished he'd done it more. And all at once he wasn't embarrassed at all. He wanted to see Don's face, Don's body. He wanted to see everything.

He pulled away and reached blindly out for the nightstand and the light switch.

"Did I do something wrong?" Don asked.

"No. Christ, no! I just want the light back on. I want to see you."

"Oh," said Don brightly. "Why didn't you say?"

Gary heard Don moving in the dark, heard him whisper words he couldn't understand and clap his hands.

And then the impossible happened.

* * *

Jason reckoned he'd only been asleep for an hour when there was a pounding on the door. He started awake, trying to figure out where he was, what that sound was, what the hell was going on.

The girl beside him in the bed just pulled a pillow over her head.

"Get the fucking door, won't you, Jay," she said. Or he said. Howard. 

Fucking hell. As he stumbled out of the bed, he wondered if he was ever going to get used to this world, even as he hoped he wouldn't have to.

He pulled open the door to find Gaz looking shaken and Mark and Rob looking like they'd just stumbled in from a very interesting party. Rob was covered in glitter, and Mark had on mascara that had smeared and run.

"What-" Jason started to say, but Gary pushed past him and pulled Mark and Rob into the room. Jason could smell alcohol and smoke on Rob and Mark as they passed, and wondered what they'd been up to.

"There's something I have to tell all of you," Gaz said.

"Can't it wait until morning?" Howard asked from the bed, his head still under a pillow.

"No, it can't." Gary's voice was insistent. "I've been waiting up forever for these two numpties to get back from wherever they were because it absolutely can't wait."

"Go on, then," Jason said, sitting on the edge of the bed. Mark slid down one wall until he was sitting on the floor, and Rob collapsed on the room's sofa as Gary paced the room.

"Don came over," Gary began.

"Your news isn't going to be that you got laid, is it?" Rob interrupted. "'Cause that wouldn't be news."

"No." Gary looked annoyed, like he always did when Rob tried to derail him. "It's not about getting laid."

"So you _didn't_ get laid!" Rob was on the attack, and Jason had been the target of Rob's so-called wit often enough that he felt sorry for Gary.

"Yeah! No! Well, yeah, I did, but that's not important." Gary was turning red and looking flustered in a way that wasn't very Gary-like.

"What's your news, Gaz?" Jason asked, giving him a gentle way out of Rob's trap.

"There's magic in this world! Real magic that real people can do. I went to turn on the light at one point, and Don told me not to worry, and he did something and then there was this glowing light all over the room. And then he looked at me like it wasn't anything special."

"Oh," Jason said. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Howard had shed his pillow and was sitting up and paying very close attention to his band mates.

"Oh? I tell you people can do magic here, and all you say is oh?" He looked over at Rob. "What about you? What do you have to say?"

"I already knew." Rob aimed one of his cheekiest grins at Gary. 

"Wait, you knew?" Gary asked, his voice slightly hysterical. "You fuckin' knew?"

"Well, me and Markie sort of went to a magical orgy tonight." He grinned and looked over at Mark, who grinned back.

"Yeah, the bloke hosting it had a party trick," Mark said, looking suddenly far less innocent than everyone always assumed he was, and far more debauched that Jason would have thought possible. "He could make everyone's clothes disappear."

"It was mega," Rob added.

"It was a bitch finding our clothes at the end of the night, though," Mark said, and made a face. "My pants ended up in a potted plant."

"Well, how about you, Jay?" Gary said. "You didn't know about the magic, did you?" Gary looked desperate, as if he were grasping at any shred of normalcy this world could offer him.

Jason looked behind him at Howard. Howard frowned, and looked almost nervous, but after a second he nodded at Jason.

"You show them, Jay. You know you want to."

Jason nodded and stood in the centre of the room. He took a deep breath and made sure he was balanced, his bare feet grounding him, connecting him through the hotel's floor to the world. He breathed out and in again, closed his eyes, and concentrated, just like Nigella had taught him. Then he held out one palm, focused his energy, and thought of light.

He opened his eyes, and there it was, a small, blue flame flickering with a faint heat in his palm.

"Mega," said Rob.

"Cool," said Mark.

"You can do magic?" said Gary. Jason had never heard his voice go quite so high. Not even when he was singing. "You can fucking do magic!"

"Don't encourage him," Howard said, and yeah, there was definitely something off about How. Like he was almost…afraid. Jason didn't like that one bit. He didn't want anyone to be afraid of him. Especially not Howard. "He's been showing me all night. We've only just got to sleep."

"Jay can do magic, and you're worried about your sleep?"

"'Course I'm worried about my sleep. We've got a video shoot to get through in the morning." Howard looked over at the clock. "Well, in a couple of hours, really."

"But this changes everything," Gary insisted.

"It gives us an idea of how we've been turned into girls," Jason said. "It doesn't change anything else. We've still got to pretend we're who everyone else thinks we are. We still have to get through the shoot. And we still have no idea how to get back home."

"But.." Gary started to sputter.

"You need sleep, Gary. We all need sleep." He looked over at Rob and then Mark. "And you two need to sober up. Then we can start working out how we're going to get home."

"I don't think I can sleep." Gary looked jittery, as if he expected the room to spontaneously erupt in an explosion of magic.

"And I don't think I can move," said Mark, from where he'd slumped even further down on the floor.

Jason rolled his eyes, then looked over at Howard. They shared a look, then Howard nodded and stood.

"Alright, you lot," Howard said. "You can sleep in our bed. Fuck knows it's big enough." He looked pointedly at Rob, then Mark. "But you two need to drink a lot of water, and promise me you're not going to throw up." He grabbed Mark's hand and hauled him to his feet. "And you need to get that muck off your face. I'm not havin' mascara all over me pillows." 

While Howard hustled their two youngest members off to the bathroom, Jason guided Gary gently over to the bed. 

"What are we going to do, Jay?" Gary said, looking lost and miserable, so far from his usual confident self.

"We'll figure out something, Gaz," he said, though he wasn't entirely sure how.

By the time Howard, Mark and Rob emerged from the bathroom, he had Gary settled on the bed beside him. The others collapsed in a heap, arms and legs tangled in a way that wasn't entirely unpleasant and wasn't entirely unfamiliar. Even Gary seemed to relax.

Jason lay awake as one by one the others drifted off. Gary shifted restlessly for longer than the others, but eventually even he began to breathe deeply and Jason knew he was asleep. Only then did Jason let himself relax and drift into a sleep populated by unquiet dreams of magic flames, unnatural lights, and disappearing clothes. And all the while he was shadowed by a mysterious unseen magician who was pulling all their strings.

* * *

Howard woke up to find a sliver of daylight invading the room through a gap in the curtains, and Jason snuggled into his side, one arm thrown over Howard's stomach. He put one hand lightly on Jason's shoulder, watching as it rose and fell with the rhythm of his breathing.

They were surrounded by the others--Mark and Robbie were tangled together like puppies on one side of him, and Gary was one the other, his face buried in the pillow he clutched to his chest--but he was the only one awake.

He tried to hold still, to make his own breathing as shallow as possible, so that he wouldn't wake Jason or the others. Not yet. He wanted a few minutes of quiet, and he knew once Rob was awake, there'd be no quiet for anyone. 

He needed the quiet to think, to sort through the needs and emotions coursing through his body. The need to protect Jason, the need to get them all home. The fear of a world where magic was real, and the sense of wonder at the same. And the love.

He hadn't realized he loved Jason before, not really. He'd felt a little burn of jealousy every time Jay had chatted up a bird or smiled at a bloke. And he'd known he loved him. But he hadn't known that he was _in_ love with him. Not until he realized how vulnerable Jay was, how much he might be in need of Howard's protection.

But having Jason be some magician-in-training in this world just made an already fucked-up situation even more fucked up. Because magic was something you read about in books, something that wasn't real. Finding out that magic existed, that it was probably the reason they were here, that it was something Jason could do, was terrifying.

Not that he'd told Jason how scared he was. Jason had been so excited, so pleased by his news last night, that Howard hadn't wanted to spoil it for him. So he'd smiled and nodded and made appreciative noises when Jason had put on his light show.

He wondered if Jason would still be able to do magic once they got back home. If it was something to do with this world, or if it was a potential that Jason had always had. And the thought of that, Jason being a wizard in their own world, made his breath catch in his throat.

Jason jerked beneath his hand and looked up at him, as if he'd somehow sensed Howard's distress.

"You alright, Dougie?" Jason whispered.

"Yeah," Howard lied.

Jason frowned as if he didn't quite believe him, but there was no time for him to say anything. Because Mark blinked and yawned, and Rob stretched and rolled onto his side, and Gary moaned and sat up.

"Fucking hell," Gary said. "We're still girls."

Before the others could react to that statement of the obvious, there was a knock on the door, and then Paula was walking in holding a key card.

"I should have known I'd find all of you muppets together," she said with a roll of her eyes. "You've got half an hour before we leave." She started leaving heading out of the room, then stopped for a moment. "I'll come fetch you when it's time." The door slammed behind her before any of them could make a comment.

"Shit," Rob said, and leapt out of bed. And promptly grabbed his head in pain. "Shit!" 

"I told you to drink more water last night," Howard said.

"Shut up, Dougie," Rob said, turning slightly green. "At least we had fun."

"Yeah," Mark said, though he didn't look so good, either.

"You two should push off to your own rooms," Howard said. "Find some paracetamol." 

"Wait," Jason said, and put a hand on Howard's wrist. "Let me try something."

Howard frowned as Jason stood and walked over to where Rob was standing. He put a hand on Rob's chest, took a deep breath, and closed his eyes. There was a crackle in the air, just at the edge of Howard's hearing, and Jason was framed in a light the colour of the flame he'd pulled out of the air last night. The light moved towards Rob. By the time it had surrounded him, Rob no longer looked hung over. He looked…fine.

"You should try this, Markie," Rob said. "It's amazing!"

Before Howard could say a word, Jason was doing the same voodoo with Mark, with similar results.

"You're right, Rob." Mark was practically bouncing. "It _is_ amazing."

Howard wasn't quite as convinced Jason's new-found talent was amazing. In fact, now more than ever, he thought it was fucking terrifying. Because it was one thing to prat about, pulling blue flames out of the air, but another to use your friends as magical lab rats for hangover-curing spells.

But he couldn't let his terror show. Because there was Jason looking proud, and Mark and Rob looking impressed, and Gaz looking intrigued. So Howard took a deep breath, tried to slow his hammering heart, squeezed his hand shut so hard that he felt his nails digging into his palm, and let the magic became just one more thing they didn't talk about. Like who fancied who. Like what Nigel had done to Jason.

"You've really got something, Jay," Gary said. "Maybe you can get us back home."

"I'm a rank amateur." Jason shook his head. "I'd be just as liable to land us at the bottom of the ocean as get us back to our world."

"But you cured us!" Rob said.

"Only because Nigella showed me a rejuvenation spell last night. I'd need someone to teach me how to get us home." He paused for a moment before speaking again. "Maybe I could ask Nigella-"

"No!" Howard and Rob yelled simultaneously.

"But-" Jason started.

"No fucking way, Jason." Howard couldn't believe he even had to say this. "She's this world's Nigel. And you know we can't trust Nigel."

"Yeah," Rob said for emphasis.

"She's not like Nigel," Jason insisted. "Not at all."

"There's got to be another way," Howard said.

"I don't know that we've got any choice, How," Mark said. "It's not like we can look in the phone book under Magical Transportation to Other Worlds."

"Maybe we can," Howard said hopefully.

"No we can't," Gary said, and everyone turned to look at him. "I flipped through the phone book while I was waiting for the glimmer twins to get back from their orgy. There're no magicians for hire in there."

"'Course you did," Rob said, and Howard was sure he wasn't the only one who could hear a nasty edge to his voice.

"Let's not argue," Mark said. "We don't have to decide what to do now."

"But we do have to get ready now." Jason pointed to the clock on their night stand. "Paula will be back in fifteen minutes."

That stopped the argument, as Mark, Rob, and Gary ran back to their own rooms, leaving Howard and Jason to shower and dress. Before they knew it, Paula was taking them back to the club, and then Charlotte was shouting directions and Nigella was hovering over them all and Howard didn't have time to think about how the hell they were going to get out of this mess.

* * *

Rob was the first one to see the short, elfin-featured, blond-haired man enter the club.

"Roberta!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, and before Rob knew it, he was wrapped in an almost suffocating hug. "So good to see you. Where are the others? This shoot is going to be such fun." The man continued on like that, with no possible gaps for Rob to answer, until Rob's brain caught up enough to realize who this was.

Lulu.

Or rather, Lou.

He was very much like their Lulu. He had the same warm personality that made you like him immediately. He was bubbly and enthusiastic, but also completely professional. As the day went on, he treated everyone on set like family, dispensing advice, hugs and gentle punches to the arm as he thought fit. Within minutes of his arrival, he had the five of them following him around like orphaned ducklings who'd bonded to a forceful replacement daddy duck.

But there was one thing Lou did that Lulu didn't: magic.

Five minutes after Rob met him, he'd levitated a drink across the bar and lit an extra's fag with a snap of his fingers. He even used magic during the shoot.

"Warn us about the fireworks next time, won't you," Charlotte said after Lou had let off a particularly impressive light show during a shot. "You're going to blind Peter," she said, waving at a bleary-eyed cameraman. "And we won't be able to use the shots if there are too many lens flares."

Lou was chastened only until the camera was on him again, and he released another blast of colourful light during a shot. But everyone forgave him. Even Peter, who nearly was singed the second time.

"We should talk to him," Rob said to the others, while across the room Lou floated a biscuit from the catering table into his hand and then took an enthusiastic bite. "Ask for his help."

"Ask for his help with what?" Gary asked. Rob only had to look at Gary like he was stupid for five seconds before the penny dropped. "Are you mad?"

"He can do magic. We like him. He's as nice as our Lulu. He's perfect," Rob said, brimming over with his own enthusiasm. "Don't tell me you can't see it." He looked to Jason for support. "You're close to Lulu. You tell them that Lou would be the perfect one to help us."

"I don't know," Jason said.

"Not you, too, Jay." Rob released a quick breath in frustration. "It's not like we've got a lot of choice. We can't put an advert in the back pages of the Sun: Famous girl band seeks magician to return them to their own world. That would go down a treat. They'd lock us all up."

"Rob, that's hardly fair," Howard said.

"It's totally fair. We've got to find a way home. Soon."

"Soon?" Gary asked, a confused look on his face.

Rob looked at Jason, who nodded.

"I don't know it for sure, but I do feel like it'll be harder to get back, the longer we wait," Jason said, and Rob nodded.

"I've been feeling the same thing," Rob said. "Like if we wait too long, we'll be trapped here. And Lou can help us. I _know_ he can."

"We should vote on it," Jason said. "We always vote on big band decisions."

The vote was unanimous, because as Gary said, "We choice do we have?"

So, at the next break in shooting, they all dragged Lou back to the cloak room.

"What's this about, girls?" Lou leaned against the wall and idly created a rainbow above all of their heads.

"We have something to tell you," Rob said. "And ask you." He looked to Gary, suddenly afraid of not being believed when they told Lou the truth.

"Well, you see…" Gary said, and then trailed off and turned red.

"Um…" Jason tried.

Mark didn't get beyond a squeak.

"Oh, for fuck's sake." Howard looked at all of them in disgust. "We're not who you think we are. We're really boys, and we're from an alternate universe. That's what we think, anyway. And we're wondering if you can use your magic to help us get home."

Rob laughed, out of relief and shock and the enjoyment of watching Howard be his blunt usual self, even if he was in a girl's body. He looked at the others. Gary's mouth was hanging open, Mark's eyes had gone unbelievably wide, and Jason was licking his lips the way he usually did when he was nervous.

And then there was Lou. He wasn't laughing, which was good. He didn't look pissed off or annoyed. He was looking closely at each one of them with a frown of concentration.

"This isn't a piss take, is it," he said.

They all shook their heads. 

"Fucking hell," he said, as a miniature red firework went off behind his head and made them all flinch.

"Can you help us?" Jason asked before the bang of the firework had even faded.

"I'd love to, but I can't." Lou looked gutted.

"You won't?" Mark looked so very disappointed.

"Not won't. Can't." Lou's tone was emphatic. "My spells are all flash, no substance. I can do the showy stuff, but nothing more. I can't do anything serious. It's why I went into entertainment. And reaching into another dimension is serious. Very serious. It would take a very serious practitioner to manage it."

"Can't you try?" Gary looked younger at that moment than Rob felt. He'd never seen Gary so vulnerable before, and it made him more nervous than anything else they'd been through in the last day.

"Not unless the lot of you want to end up dead. I just don't have the power."

"Then we're stuck here." Jason sounded utterly lost.

"No, you're not. You know a powerful practitioner, one who would be happy help you."

"Who?" Rob asked. "Paula? Kim?"

"No. Nigella."

Rob felt ill, very much like Howard looked. Because here they were, right back at Jason's original idea, asking Nigella for help.

He couldn't believe that Jason was at all cool with that. Not with the stick the two of them had taken from Nigel in the last few years. And if he was honest, Rob suspected Jason took even more stick than he did. All that history, and Jason was willing to give Nigella a chance. Rob wondered if she'd managed to brainwash him the night before.

He tuned back into the room around him and found Lou was still talking.

"She thinks the world of you. Of her girls. Especially you, Jay." He stopped and shook his head. "I'm mean the real Jay. Our Jay."

"You must mean Gayle," Howard said. "Not Jay."

"She likes Gayle well enough, but she's closest to Jay. Gayle's got barely enough magic to fill a thimble, but you" he looked at Jason, "well, the other you, she's a powerful practitioner on her own. Nigella's taken her on as her apprentice, and she'd do anything for her."

"Are you sure she just doesn't fancy Jay?" Howard asked, and there was real pain in his eyes. Enough pain that Rob felt a stab of guilt in his stomach. Because there it was, the clue that Howard knew more than either he or Jay were saying about what Jay had suffered at Nigel's hands. A clue that suddenly made getting shouted at by Nigel seem like nothing.

"No!" Lou was indignant. "Well, she might have fancied Jay at the start a bit, but she was never anything but happy when the two of you..." He stopped again. "I mean when Jay and Ally got together." He stood with his arms firmly crossed, a determined look on his face. "She'd do anything for them. And for you."

"We can't ask her," Howard said, his voice a slight whisper and full of the fear Rob was feeling himself.

"Why ever not?" Lou was clearly frustrated.

"There's…history with us and our Nigel," Rob said, taking the burden of explanation from Howard and Jason. He owed them that, at least. "And a lot of it's not good."

"Nigella isn't your Nigel. She's a good person." Lou reached out a hand to Rob and gave his shoulder a squeeze. "You should go to her for help. And I think you should do it soon. Big spells like this are usually harder to reverse the longer you wait." Rob wasn't sure it was a comfort to have their suspicions on that confirmed.

"Thank you, Lou." Jason's voice was calm, far calmer than Rob was feeling himself. "I think we've got to discuss this."

"You do that, girls." He choked for a moment. "Um, I mean boys. Let me know if there's anything I can help with."

Then he was gone, leaving all of them staring at each other awkwardly. 

"You heard Lou," Jason said. "Nigella's not Nigel. She can help." He looked at Howard with an expression so raw, so full of private meaning, that Rob had to look away.

"I don't know, Jay." Howard's eyes were haunted. "What do you think, Rob?"

Rob shrugged, the gesture full of the rage and powerless Nigel always made him feel. "It doesn't feel right."

"But we don't have any other choice," Gary said. "Not really. And if what Lou said is true, we need to get help fast."

"I'm with Jason," Mark piped up. "I think we should ask Nigella."

"How?" Jason turned to Howard.

"Alright." Howard nodded. "I don't like it, but it looks like it's the only chance we have."

Which just left _him_. Rob looked at them all, and thought about the first time he'd put his fate in Nigel's hands, signing up for the band. That decision had brought him wealth and fame and friendship with the boys, with Markie, but it had been a deal with the devil. Now he was being asked to trust his fate to Nigel's counterpart in this world, and this time it wasn't just his career at stake. It was his life.

"Okay," he said. "I don't like it, but we don't have a choice, do we?"

None of the others bothered to answer that question.

"How are we going to do this?" asked Mark.

"Over dinner," Jason said. "I'll ask her to book a private room for us all. Tell her there's something we want to discuss."

"Better you than me," Rob said. Even seeing Nigella act differently from Nigel, even hearing Lou say how nice she was, he still didn't want to talk to her.

"Right," Howard said. "Now let's go finish making this fucking video."

* * *

Mark wasn't quite sure how he made it through the rest of the shoot. He was so keyed up waiting for the big dinner with Nigella that he barely took in what was going on around him. He was amazed he hadn't fucked up any shots, but he hadn't. None of them had. They all danced around like fools in front of the camera, and at the end of the day Charlotte declared herself satisfied that they had all the footage they needed and Paula packed them off to the hotel. Everyone except Nigella, who stayed to tie up some loose ends at the club before meeting them for the arranged dinner at Simpson's-on-the-Strand.

"We've never eaten at Simpson's before, have we?" Mark said to Rob as he went through all of Marcia's clothes, trying to find an outfit that seemed worthy of that venerable restaurant. "Sherlock Holmes ate at Simpson's."

"I wonder if there are Sherlock Holmes stories in this world?" Rob said as he lay on the bed. He'd thrown on a pair of leggings and an oversized sweater and called himself sorted.

"It wouldn't be England without Sherlock Holmes." Mark pulled on a dress that was all sparkle and glitter. "Wonder what she's called here." He winked at himself in the mirror. This one would do.

"Shirley?" Rob said with a laugh.

"Shirley Holmes." Mark giggled. "That's brilliant." He flopped down on his stomach beside Rob and rested his head on Rob's shoulder. Rob wrapped an arm around him and they lay together for a few minutes, warm and safe and comfortable.

"Are you looking forward to getting home?" The question was out of his mouth before he'd had time to think about it.

"'Course I am." Rob looked at him like he was mad. "I mean, it's been fun here, but it's not our world, is it? I don't know if I'll ever feel like a girl, and then there's the magic. It's too fucking weird."

"I didn't think anything was too fucking weird for you, Rob." Mark shifted and brought his own arm around Rob. "You liked the magic well enough at that party."

"Well, I liked the sex." Rob gave him an evil grin. "The magic was a bonus."

"Hmm." Mark thought for a moment, then he squirmed in Rob's arms until he was positioned just right and kissed him. It was a proper kiss, just like the one Rob had given him the day before, and it was amazing. Rob's mouth opened under his, in surprise at first, judging what he could see of his expression from this close. But then the surprise merged into pleasure, and their arms tightened around each other. Only the fact that Nigella would soon be knocking on their door made him reluctantly pull away.

"What'd you do that for?" Rob said, though he didn't seem at all upset.

"Like you said last night. I said I'd go out with you if I was a girl." He grinned at Rob, who grinned back at him.

"Maybe we should try it again when we're back to being boys."

"Maybe we should. That's if Nigella can help us." Rob's smile disappeared at once, and Mark could feel him start to pull back. "What did I say?" he asked, even while he held more tightly onto Rob.

"I still don't know if we can trust Nigella."

"She's not Nigel."

"But why isn't she more like Nigel? Everyone else here is like they are in our world. Why is she different?" Rob stared at the ceiling and his hand gripped Mark's shoulder so hard it hurt. But Mark didn't flinch. He moved his hand in a gentle movement on Rob's back until his hold finally eased.

"Maybe Nigel's not as bad as you think. Not really." Mark always tried to think the best of people, he really did. Even people who seemed to think nothing of belittling everyone around them. Even Nigel.

He knew Rob well enough to expect a reaction to that statement, but he wasn't prepared for the violence of it. Rob pushed him away and moved to the edge of the bed, as far as he could get from Mark.

"How can you say that?" Rob looked…hurt. As if Mark had personally betrayed him. "He's a fucking monster."

"I know he's always giving us bollockings, but I'm sure he must mean well."

"The bollockings aren't the worst of it," Rob said, then snapped his mouth shut as if he'd said too much, his eyes darting around the room, looking everywhere but at Mark.

Mark sat up carefully, as if he were in the presence of a wild animal seeking escape.

"What do you mean?" he asked Rob, slowly and carefully. This was clearly important. He didn't want there to be any misunderstandings.

Rob shook his head, so Mark moved cautiously towards him with one hand outstretched. When he put his hand on Rob's arm, he could feel the trembling.

"You can tell me, Rob. You can tell me anything."

"I'm not sure there is anything to tell. Not really." Rob was clearly backtracking, hoping to get out of sharing whatever secret he was protecting.

"But you think there is."

"Maybe." Rob looked away. "But it's not my story to tell."

"Whose story is it?"

As Mark watched, he could see the struggle play itself out on Rob's face, the need to share the burden of the knowledge he had fighting with the need to keep the secret.

Mark thought about it, and realized there was only one possible answer to his question.

"Is it Jason's?"

Rob nodded, and a relief instantly flooded his expression.

"Do you think…" Mark paused as he tried to work out what it was that Rob thought he knew about Jason and Nigel. And then he reached the only conclusion possible. "Oh my God." He could barely hear his own voice.

Rob's expression at that moment told him he must be right.

"I didn't want to tell you, Markie. But it's the reason why I can't trust Nigella. And I think Howard knows too because he looks sick every time Nigella is around, and you know how he is about Jay. He'd do anything for him. And if he thinks…if he knows…" He trailed off as he fought with his thoughts, the flood of words stopping again.

"Fucking hell." Mark felt as if his blood had been replaced with ice water, freezing him in this horrid place. "But Jason trusts Nigella." 

"Maybe Nigella's just better at hiding what a bastard she is." Rob's tone was harsh, and his expression was bitter. "Maybe she's going to make it worse."

"Christ." Mark had believed Nigella would be their saviour. What if she really was no better than their own manager? What if she made things even worse? "What should we do, Rob?"

"Nothing we can do, is there? We'll tell Nigella our problem, like we agreed, and listen to what she says. And we'll keep an eye on her, whatever she does."

Mark nodded. Then he thought of something else.

"Should we talk to Jason? About...you know."

"No." Rob shook his head emphatically. "If he wanted us to know, he'd tell us. And he's got Howard looking out for him."

"Alright."

Rob moved back towards him and surrounded him in a hug that had nothing to do with sex and everything to do with love.

"We'll look out for each other, Markie," Rob whispered into his ear. "We'll make sure we're all okay."

Mark nodded and didn't say another word until there was a knock on the door. At the sound, he tightened his hold on Rob for a brief second, an embrace that was returned. Then they kissed and broke apart and went to face their fate.

* * *

Regardless of what the others felt about him—and he knew what they thought, that he was Nigel's golden boy, that he could do no wrong where their manager was concerned--Gary was used to feeling that he was the only one that didn't know something. He'd felt that way from the day of the audition on. Mark always knew how to dress better. Jason could dance better. Howard could dance _and_ knew what music was trendy. And Rob…Rob just knew how to be cool.

Sitting around a table in a private room at Simpson's with the boys and Nigella, he felt that way again. Mark and Rob kept sharing the sorts of looks they did when they had a secret, except this time it wasn't a good sort of secret. Then there were Howard and Jason, sharing that connection that always seemed to bind them together, but tonight Howard was looking at everyone but Nigella, and Jason couldn't take his eyes off her. Tension of a secret knowledge flowed around the table, between the four of them, and Gary didn't have a clue where it was coming from.

He looked over to Nigella and noticed she was examining each of them in turn as if they were all slightly fuzzy and she was trying to bring them into focus. Then she caught Gary's eye, shrugged, and smiled, and Gary wondered if he was imagining all of it.

"Shall we order drinks first, girls?" Nigella said, looking around the table. "Or do you want to tell me why we're here?"

"Drinks first," Rob said, looking as desperate for alcohol as Gary felt.

Nigella pushed a button and a waiter arrived quietly at the room in seconds and listened attentively as she ordered some wine. They were all silent as the waiter disappeared then reappeared with an expensive-looking bottle, let Nigella test it, and poured each of them a glass.

"To my girls," Nigella said, raising her glass. They followed suit, and each took a sip. The wine was as fantastic as you'd expect in a place like this, though Gary was so wound up he couldn't really enjoy it. After they'd all drunk a toast, Nigella put down her glass and looked carefully at each one of them, with her gaze finally ending on Jason. "So, what do you have to tell me?"

This time there was no faffing about, no need for Howard to blurt out their predicament. Jason kept his gaze trained on Nigella and told her everything. Nigella listened to it all calmly with her hands folded on the table in front of her, moving them only once to take a drink from her glass of wine. And when Jason was finished, when he'd told her the whole mad story, she sat back in her chair, her face grim.

"I should have known," she said, her voice quiet but firm. She looked at each of them again, and when it came to his turn, Gary felt like he was being subjected to an x-ray. "I've been trying to figure out what was wrong with you since yesterday. Your auras are all wrong." She turned back to Jason. "And then there was your lesson. I felt like I was teaching a beginner again."

"You believe us?" Gary couldn't believe it was this easy.

"Of course I believe you." She fiddled with the napkin in front of her, the one indication that she'd been unsettled by Jason's story. "People keep it quiet, but there are stories... Spells like that take a lot of power, and they're not, strictly speaking, legal, but they can be done." She grasped the napkin in a fist so tight her knuckles whitened. "And I'm sure I know who did it."

"Who?" Gary asked.

"Cowell." Gary hadn't seen Nigella sneer before, but she did now. She looked as if saying that name caused her actual physical pain.

"Simon?" asked Jason.

"Simone, that little cunt. She's hated me ever since she turned the girls down. Said she'd only sign us if I sacked Gayle."

"Because Gayle was fat," Gary said, because he'd heard that story often enough.

"What? No. She's not fat. I mean, you're not fat. Or that body's not fat, regardless of who's in it." Nigella shook her head. "This is going to take some getting used to. No, she said no one without magical power could ever be a success in show business. Never mind that Gayle's a brilliant song writer. And a singer."

"I don't have magical powers," Gary said, rolling the concept about his mind. Lou had already mentioned Gayle's lack, but this time Gary felt a definite sting at the confirmation of the fact. It was just one more thing separating him from the others, one more way in which he was different from them. And not in a good way.

"Gayle doesn't," Nigella said, and then gave him a hard look. "You don't seem to, either. Marcia and Ally have more. And Jay and Roberta have the most raw power I've seen."

"I've got magical power," Rob said, looking pleased.

"But no discipline," Nigella said. "Not like our Jay." She beamed at Jason with the same sort of benevolent pride that Gary was used to seeing Nigel direct at him, and he felt an unexpected stab of jealousy. Jason returned the look with a smile, but Gary noticed Mark and Rob looked a bit uneasy. And Howard looked positively ill. 

Was this what Gary had been sensing? Some problem with Nigella? But before he could think it through, Nigella was looking at them all.

"But that's not important now. What _is_ important is that I call you all by your right names. Names have power, after all."

"I'm-" Jason began to say, but Nigella stopped him with a raised hand.

"No. Let me guess. Be more fun that way. I'll bet you're Jason, since you didn't even blink at Jay."

Jason nodded.

"Mark?"

"Yeah," Mark said.

"Robert?"

"Rob," Rob corrected.

"You mean Robbie," Mark said with a grin.

"Oi, only on stage, and you know it, Markie." Rob returned the grin.

"Gary?" Nigella continued, though she did spare a smile for their two youngest members.

"That's me."

"And Al."

They all started laughing at that, and Howard turned red.

"No?"

"No. I'm Howard."

"Really? Hmmm." Nigella gave him an appraising look. "I don't really see you as a Howard."

"I don't really see me as an Al."

"Point taken," Nigella said with a laugh.

"Can you help us, Nigella?" Jason asked, and he sounded as eager and desperate as Gary felt.

"I don't know." Nigella's mouth was in a grim line and she shrugged. "It took a lot of power to do this, and it'll take a lot more power to put things back the way they should be. But I'll try. For you, and for my girls." She drummed her fingers on the table and looked off into the distance. "I'll need to find a spell to fix things, and that may take a little while."

"But can you do it soon?" Mark asked, his expression hopeful.

"As soon as I can manage." Nigella's expression turned very serious. "After all, I want my girls back as much as you want to get home." She gave them all a smile that she obviously meant to be comforting, but came out more worried. "But let's not talk about this for now. I'm sure you're all starving." She opened the menu and started poring over it. "Let's eat."

Simpson's lived up to its reputation. It was one of the best meals Gary had ever had, but he found he couldn't quite enjoy it. He had to keep reminding himself to concentrate on tasting the food. And he wasn't the only one. Mark just pushed his food around on the plate, and Howard barely choked down anything he'd ordered. Only Jason and Rob seemed to have any sort of appetite.

When they'd all eaten as much as they were going to, Nigella looked at them all with concern.

"You all looked knackered," she said. "It's been a long day. You should all get to bed." She gave Rob a wink. "That means bed, Rob, not finding a club to go to."

"I never," Rob said, all big eyes and feigned guilelessness.

"I don't believe it when Roberta comes over all innocent either, so don't you start."

"I'll make sure he gets some sleep," Mark said, and grabbed Rob's hand. "C'mon, you."

They all started moving towards the door, but then Nigella spoke.

"Jay, could you stay for a bit."

Gary saw Howard's shoulders stiffen immediately.

"Jay's tired, too," Howard said.

"I know he is, love," Nigella said, her voice more gentle than Nigel would ever be able to manage. "But the one thing I can do tonight to get you home is to figure out where home is. And I need Jay to do that."

Howard opened his mouth to respond, but Jason reached out and put a hand on his shoulder.

"It'll be alright, Dougie."

Howard didn't relax, but he did at least nod. Then the four of them filed out of the room, leaving Jay and Nigella alone.

No one said a word as they moved through the hotel and to the elevators. They were silent until they reached their floor and ended up in Mark's room, as they so often did. Howard sprawled on the sofa, Rob headed for the mini-bar, and Mark sat beside Howard, looking at him with concern.

Standing in the doorway, Gary knew for certain he was missing something, that everyone else knew some big secret but him.

"Does anyone want to tell me what's going on?" he said, exasperated.

"We've magically become girls, Gary," Rob said with a smirk as he popped open a bottle of lager. "I thought you'd noticed that."

"I know _that_." Gary crossed his arms. "But there's something else, isn't there?"

There was a long drawn-out silence as they all looked at him, a silence that Mark finally broke.

"You should tell him, How," he said. "Rob and I are only guessing."

"I'm only guessing, too," Howard said, his voice alarmingly choked up.

"Well, one of you tell me." Gary was definitely worried now.

"Okay," Howard said. And then he did.

* * *

Jason watched the others leave, and then sat back down at the table beside Nigella. She smiled at him, her expression warm and reassuring, and put out her hand. He took it in his own, and it felt right, it felt good.

It was odd, he reflected, how quickly he'd come to trust this woman, but he did trust her, as much as he trusted his own mum. In fact, he rather suspected Jenny Orange would like Nigella. Not that she'd ever have a chance to meet her.

"Can I ask you something?" Nigella said.

"Yeah."

"Why were you afraid of me yesterday?"

Jason felt his heart speed up, felt sweat break out on his palms. He pulled his hand back from Nigella's grip and clenched it under the table. Because how could he explain Nigel to this woman? How could he tell her that in his world she was a monster who'd stripped them all of self confidence? How could he tell her what Nigel had done to _him_?

"Oh, you poor boy." Nigella reached out for him, but stopped herself. Instead she settled her hands on the table and looked at him with sympathy. "Was it me? Your version of me? Did he do this to you?"

Jason hesitated and bit his lip, then nodded.

"Is Jayshri in any danger from him?"

"Jayshri?"

"Sorry, that's what you're called here. I thought you knew."

"No. I thought Jay might be short for Jayne."

"Her dad's best friend was South Asian. He suggested the name, and your dad liked it. And you didn't answer my question. Is she in danger from him?" Nigella looked upset.

"No." He shook his head and looked down at the table, at the remnants of their meal, and thought of all the things Nigel had done to him over the years. "He'll probably make her uncomfortable, but he won't try anything. Not anymore."

"Bastard," Nigella said firmly.

"Yeah," Jason agreed.

"But why didn't the others help?" She looked honestly confused.

"I never told them." Because what could they have done? They were all only in the band at Nigel's pleasure, and they knew it. None of them would have rocked the boat for the others. Nigel's divide and conquer strategy had been too effective for that.

"You might not have told them, but they know." She frowned. "Well, Howard and Rob and Mark do. I don't know about Gary."

"Gary's always been Nigel's pet. He's never taken stick like the rest of us."

"Gary?" Her eyes widened in surprise. "Really? That's…interesting." She looked as though she was trying to process the discovery that the universe was configured differently than she'd always assumed. "You should still tell them. They could help you. That's what friends do, isn't it?"

"We're co-workers, not friends," Jason said, not sure what was true anymore.

"I've watched you all the past day. You _are_ friends. Real friends. And Howard seems especially protective of you." She took his hand in hers, and it was a mark of how much he'd come to trust her that he didn't flinch from her this time. "Are you two together in your world?"

"No." He ducked his head as he answered, suddenly unwilling to make eye contact with this woman who was asking too many difficult questions, even as her warm, dry hand patted his.

"He wants to be, though."

"What?" It was an impossible thought, Howard wanting him. He didn't deserve Howard. Howard was gorgeous and funny and talented. "That's ludicrous." But then he thought about the way Howard had looked at him when he'd left their room with Nigella. The hurt that showed in Howard's eyes when he watched Jason flirting with girls. The way he'd woken up this morning with Howard's hand on his shoulder.

Nigella gripped his hand even more tightly and raised his chin with her free hand. He found himself looking into her eyes, an experience that left him feeling vulnerable and exposed.

"Not ridiculous." She raised an eyebrow. "You want to be, too."

Jason opened his mouth to deny it, but he found he couldn't do it. Because Nigella was right. Howard was comfort. Howard was home. Howard was the one person he always wanted to be with.

"You really are a witch, aren't you?"

"We prefer the term practitioner. And in this case, it's not the magic that told me. It's the eyes in my head. Neither of you is really subtle about the way you feel." She gave his hand a pat, and then reached out for his other hand. "Now let's get to work. I don't like the thought of sending you all back to your world, but I like the thought of my girls stuck there even less. Let's find out where you're from, shall we?"

"How?"

"Close your eyes and concentrate on what your body feels like. Your own body. I'll do the work from there."

Jason followed Nigella's instructions. He closed his eyes and thought about his own body, his boy's body. He thought about his slim hips and flat chest, about his nipples and his cock. He let himself drift, and he could feel himself moving away from this girl's body, from this alien world. He could also feel Nigella with him, a comforting presence at his back, not leading him, but keeping him safe.

They drifted into void, into utter blackness. On his own, Jason might have panicked, but Nigella was there to keep him calm. He could feel other worlds out there in the darkness, but none of them called to him. But finally he felt a spark of recognition run through him, and could feel himself drifting towards a new world. His world. He rushed faster and faster towards it until he was finally there, in his own body, feeling his lungs fill and his heart pump.

But he wasn't alone. Nigella was still with him, but there was another presence as well, the other him. Jayshri. 

It was like finding another self. He could _feel_ Jayshri's thoughts, and it was almost like feeling his own. 

She felt like him, like they were two sides of the same coin. But not identical. She was who he could have been without the crushing self doubt Nigel had cultivated in them. She was confident and proud and accomplished. She was what he aspired to be.

She was also, he realized, scared. 

She'd come in for Nigel's special treatment already, and she hadn't liked it. She wanted to get home as much as he did. More than he did, because her home was so much better than his.

He could feel her gravitating towards Nigella, sharing what she'd gone through, asking for help, for instruction. 

But then there was light and searing pain and he was being pulled from his body, from Jayshri, being tossed through the darkness without Nigella by his side, thrown about until he wasn't sure where he was or where he was going, and he started to fear that he wasn't going to make it back even to Jayshri's world, that he would be stuck here in the void, hurled about in the darkness forever.

Jay opened his eyes and found himself back in the private room in Simpson's, crumpled on the ground, with Nigella standing over him, looking positively worried. There was the feeling of a warm trickle on his upper lip. When he raised his hand to the warmth, his fingers came away red.

"What happened?" he said. Or tried to say. His words came out faint and choked.

"Don't move," Nigella said, then she knelt at his side, and took both wrists in her hands. She closed her eyes, and Jason felt a crackle of heat move through his arms, into his body. It felt like the restorative spell Nigella had taught him the night before, but stronger and wilder. Just as he thought it might be making him stronger, he felt a wave of pain wash through his body, arching his back and making his jaw clench.

"Relax," Nigella said, letting go of one wrist and putting her hand on his forehead. "Don't fight it."

But that was easier said than done. He felt like a lightning bolt was ripping through every nerve in his body, every blood vessel, every cell. He felt his chest shudder as he tried to take a breath, and only succeeded in breathing in what felt like liquid fire. He was going to die.

And then a quickly as the pain had arrived, it was gone, leaving in its absence a hollowness at his centre.

"What was that?" he asked as he struggled to sit up.

"A healing spell." Nigella frowned. "At least it was meant to be. Cowell's magic is interfering with mine. Her spell is going to be difficult to break." 

"Will you be able to? Break it?"

"I'll do my best." She rubbed his arm. "But I'm not going to do anything until we get you back upstairs. Can you stand?"

As it turned out, he couldn't. When he tried to get his legs underneath him, they buckled and he only missed hitting his head on the table because Nigella caught him.

"That's it," she said as she eased him back down to the floor. "I'm getting definitely getting help."

"Can't you, I don't know, magic me upstairs?" He didn't want anyone to see him like this, helpless and frustrated.

"I wish I could, sweetheart, but between finding your world and the healing spell, my power's down to nothing." She rubbed his arm and started to stand. "I'll get Paula and Jamie."

"No!" He grabbed Nigella's wrist and held on with what was left of his strength.

"I have to, Jay. I can't lift you by myself, and you can't stay here."

"Get the boys. Please." He swallowed hard. "I trust them."

She laid a hand on his cheek, exactly the way Jason remembered his mum doing when he was a kid and he was home sick from school. Then she nodded once and was gone, leaving him propped up against the table with nothing to do but think.

The thing he kept thinking about most was the way Nigella's hand had trembled when she'd touched his cheek, the way her eyes had been filled with unshed tears when he'd come to on the floor.

Like Jayshri, Nigella was scared. And if two people who were used to dealing with this magic were scared, Jason was beginning to think he should be fucking terrified.

* * *

The knock at the door made Mark jump, and the others look up in alarm. Howard's revelation about Nigel had shaken them all, and they were all dealing with it in their own way. Rob had already worked his way through all the lager in Mark's mini-bar and was starting in on the vodka, Howard was sitting on the bed hugging his legs tight, and Gary was pacing the room with a shell-shocked look on his face. And Mark, he was standing in the middle of the room, torn in all directions and wishing he could make things right for all his friends.

"I don't believe it," Gary had said when Howard had told him what they thought Nigel had done to Jason. "Nige wouldn't do that."

"He would, and he did, Gaz," Rob had told him, taking a bit too much pleasure in crushing Gary's illusions. "He's always been a bastard. You've just never noticed because you're the only one he's nice to."

Gary had shut up at that. Now none of them was talking, and the knowledge of what Nigel was capable of seemed to have driven them apart, not brought them together.

Mark moved to open the door, hoping it was Jason. Jason would make it better. He would know what to do.

But it wasn't Jason. It was Nigella, alone and looking worried.

"Jason's collapsed," she said. "I can't move him and he's asked if you could help."

Mark couldn't quite take in anything after "collapsed," and looking around the room, he saw the others weren't in much better shape. Rob looked ready to vomit, Gary stared at Nigella looking gobsmacked, and Howard had risen to his full height and was staring at Nigella as if she were singularly responsible for every atrocity of the 20th century.

"What did you do to him?" Howard yelled at Nigella.

"I didn't do anything," Nigella said, and to her credit she didn't back down from Howard. "It was Cowell's spell. Now are you going to help him, or not?"

She didn't need to ask again. They all rushed back to Simpson's, where they found Jason on the floor, his face ashen, his eyes blood red, with a trickle of fresh blood coming from his nose.

"Oh, Jay," Howard said as he dropped to his side. "You're a fucking mess."

"I'm alright, really," Jason said, though he wasn't at all convincing. "I just need a bit of help getting back to our room."

Howard didn't need any further encouragement. He hauled Jason to his feet, then he and Rob each took one of his arms and started making their way through the corridors to their room. Nigella and Gary went ahead to make sure the way was clear and Mark hovered behind them all feeling as useless as teats on a bull.

When they made it at last to their room, Howard eased Jason down onto the bed with a gentleness Mark had never seen from him before. He made sure Jason had enough pillows, wrapped him in the comforter, and then sat close to him, stroking his hair as Jason struggled to keep his eyes open.

"What happened?" Howard asked Nigella, his voice as hard as his touch was gentle.

"It wasn't her fault," Jason said, laying his hand lightly on Howard's wrist.

"I don't know that." Howard looked distraught, like he desperately needed to blame someone for Jason's condition. "All I know is when we left you were fine, but an hour with her and you've ended up like this."

"It was the spell," Jason said. "I felt it. And I felt Nigella protecting me."

"What did you find out?" Mark said, hoping to distract Howard from the guilt and anger he was clearly feeling. "Did you find our world?"

"Yeah," Jason said. "I found my body and all."

"But wasn't…" Mark wasn't even sure what he wanted to ask.

"Jayshri was in it," Nigella said. "If that's what you wanted to know. I talked to her." Mark could see her hands clenching tightly at her side. "She and the girls are scared. She doesn't trust your manager."

"She shouldn't," Howard spat out.

"I know." Nigella looked at them all with an expression that was full of compassion. "I know what he's done. Some of it," she corrected quickly. "And I hope you believe that I'm not like that. I've only ever tried to protect my girls. And I'll try and protect you boys, too."

"You didn't protect Jay," Howard said, his tone bitter.

"I tried," Nigella said, and Mark could hear the anguish in her voice. "But Cowell's spell was too strong. And she's added something to it."

"What?" asked Howard.

"A sting in the tail." Her eyes were as hard as Nigel's got when he was arranging a particularly nasty plan. Which was unnerving when you'd been on the receiving end of one too many of Nigel's plans. "It didn't just bring you here; it's bound you to this world. Try to get back to your own world and it'll hurt you. Try too many times, and it might just kill you."

"So, there's no way to get back?"

"I didn't say that." Nigella puffed out her chest. "I've got at least as much magic as Cowell. But it does mean that instead of one spell, we're going to have to cast two: one to get you home, and one to break the binding. And neither one is going to be easy. I'm going to have to ask for help. See if any other practitioner has counterspells that'll work." She started ticking off fingers. "Tonia John's always liked the girls, and I think she's in London. I should be able to get hold of McCartney. She was keen on the girls doing a Beatles medley and told me I could ask her for anything. And then there's Moore. She's a bit frightening, but she's the strongest mage in Britain, and she's a northerner."

"What are we meant to be doing while you're talking to the wizards of England?" Howard asked, his expression still somewhat suspicious.

"Stay here, and look after Jason." Braving Howard's fierce look, Nigella gazed at Jason with concern. "It should be safe enough here while I'm looking for a way to get you home. The fans haven't found us, and I'll tell the record company not to tell anyone we're at the Savoy. They're used to keeping the girls' travel plans secret." 

"But you will get us home?" Mark asked, feeling a wave of panic begin to build inside him. Because if Nigella couldn't get them home… 

"I will." Nigella met his gaze, and instead of the scorn and cruelty he was used to seeing from Nigel, he saw compassion and caring, and his panic eased. He found he trusted Nigella. He really did. "I promise, Mark. I promise all of you." 

"Can't you do something for him?" Howard said. He looked panicked. "A spell? Something?"

"I've already done what I can. He needs rest." She moved closer to the bed, and put one hand lightly on Jason's forehead. "And you, you let the rest of them look after you." She gave them all a quick, tight smile. "I'll let you know when I find anything." And then Nigella was gone.

Before the door had closed behind her, Mark felt Rob at this back, enfolding him in his arms and resting his chin on Mark's head.

"It'll be alright, Markie."

"I know it will," Mark said. He forced all his fears, all his uncertainty aside and focused only on his confidence in Nigella and his friends. "Nigella will get us home." If he kept on saying it, it had to be true, didn't it?

"She fucking better," Howard said, holding Jason's hand in a tight grip.

* * *

It had been a fucking awful night. 

He was never going to forget what Jason had looked like in the restaurant, the pale skin, the eyes gone red, the blood trickling from his nose. For a few horrible seconds he'd thought Jason might be dying, that magic had killed him.

But he'd been alive, if barely kicking, and he and Rob had managed to get him back to their room. And the whole time they'd been hauling him through corridors and into elevators, Howard had had to fight with himself not to do two things: punch Nigella, and hug Jason as hard as he possibly could and never let him go.

There was a very small, rational part of Howard's brain that told him what had happened to Jason wasn't Nigella's fault. But Howard had told that part to go fuck itself. Nigella might not have cast the spell that hurt Jay, but she'd led him into it. She was a symbol of the magic here, a magic that she was teaching Jason, a magic that had grabbed them and pulled them into this mad world. A magic that still fucking terrified him.

As for wanting to hug Jason…that was nothing new. But what was new was him not giving a fuck who knew. So when the boys had stayed with them until Jason had fallen into a fitful sleep, he didn't care if they saw him lying beside Jason, holding his hand, stroking his hair, basically not going even a second without touching him. And judging by the reaction of the other boys, which was basically no reaction at all except to how badly Jason was hurt, they didn't give a fuck either.

Once Jay had fallen asleep and the others had gone back to their own rooms, Howard huddled even closer to Jason, laying one hand lightly across his chest, and then watched over Jay as he tossed and turned and moaned in his sleep until sleep claimed him as well.

He woke up for the second time in as many days with Jason wrapped around him.

In the light stealing through a crack of the curtains, he thought it looked as though Jason had gained some colour back in his face. As he watched, Jason stirred and stretched and opened his eyes. 

The smile he gave Howard was brilliant and his eyes weren't bloodshot anymore, and that all did a little to shake the fear that still had hold of him.

"Morning," Jason said, before burying his face in Howard's shoulder.

"You feelin' better, then?" Howard asked.

"I feel fantastic," Jason said. "I think Nigella's spell is starting to work."

And just like that, Howard's fear slammed back into him. Because he couldn't just forget the magic in this place. The magic was everywhere. It was what these people did. It was how they lived. It was what they were. Just like being a dancer and singer was what he was.

"What's wrong?" Jason said, breaking into his thoughts.

"Nothin'," he said quickly, not sound remotely convincing even to himself. 

"It's not nothing, Dougie." Jason shifted so he could look Howard in the eyes. "You were like this yesterday morning, too. You can tell me."

He shook his head.

"C'mon. No more secrets."

"No more secrets?" His anger overtook his fear. "That's fucking rich, coming from you."

"What do you mean?" Surely, Jay couldn't be that fucking clueless.

"Nigel." He spat the name out. "You never told me what Nigel did to you."

He could feel Jason's body tense against him, and Jason looked down.

"That's different." 

Jason wasn't denying that Nigel had done anything, and that just made it all worse.

"How is it different?"

"You wouldn't have done anything about it."

"I would've!" He had to believe that. He just had to.

"You couldn't have!" Jason swallowed hard and took a deep breath. When he spoke again, his voice was calmer. "None of us could have. Anyone who'd tried to stop it would have been sacked, and me with them."

"I could have tried."

"Oh, How." Jason took him in a hug and held him as tightly as he wanted to hold Jason. "It's not your fault."

"But it is!" Howard felt as if Jason had hit him in the gut, had uncovered his worst secret. "It fucking is." He tried to push Jason away, but Jay wasn't having any of it. He hung on to him tightly, even as Howard fought him.

"Let it go, Dougie. Just let it go." Jason held on and rubbed his back.

"I can't." He felt his throat growing tight, and his eyes begin to feel gritty.

"You can." Jason kissed his hair, and his ear, and Howard finally let himself hold Jason back.

"I'm sorry, Jay," he said through a great sobbing breath. "I'm so sorry."

"Shut up," Jason said, then he was kissing him on the mouth, and suddenly Howard didn't feel bad anymore. He felt quite the opposite of bad. He felt brilliant. He felt like this always should have happened, 

They kissed and kissed and it was brilliant but weird, and it took him a while to figure out what was weird was that neither of them had stubble. He ran his hand down Jason's face as he kissed him, enjoying the smoothness of his skin.

Soon enough, they wriggled out of their clothes, enjoying the feel of skin on skin, exploring the differences in these bodies. They used fingers and teeth and tongues, and learned how these bodies felt pleasure. Howard enjoyed the slow build of desire, so different from the sudden rush to orgasm with his own body. And he enjoyed bringing Jason off, watching him flush and lose control and collapse, moaning, on the bed.

"Christ," Jason said, his chest rising and falling like it did after they'd done a full show. "That was amazing."

"Always told you I were brilliant." He couldn’t help feeling a bit smug.

"I apologize for not believing you." Jason grinned at him, but then his expression got serious again. "Now that you're relaxed, you want to tell me what was bothering you. 'Cause I don't believe it was just the Nigel thing."

"Isn't the Nigel thing enough?"

"Yeah, but I still don't think that's it." Jason poked him in the side.

"Ow. Stop that."

"I will if you tell me."

"Okay. Fine. It's the magic."

"What about the magic?"

"It terrifies me." Howard couldn't believe he had to spell this out. "It ain't natural, the magic being real. And you doing it."

"That's it? That's why you've been acting so weird?

"Isn't it enough?"

And then the bastard started laughing. He threw back his head and wrapped his arms around his body and laughed and laughed.

"Oi." Howard punched him in the arm. "It's not funny."

"Oh, but it is," Jason choked out before laughing again. "It absolutely is." Jason took a deep breath and forced himself to stop laughing, but he was still smiling. "Magic isn't terrifying, How. It's brilliant. It's fantastic. It's…the best thing I've ever done."

"Better than sex?" Howard said with a frown.

"Okay, maybe not better than sex." He grabbed Howard's hand, and if his smile faded somewhat, he was still practically glowing with good humour. "But it is better than scoring a number one pop song. Better than watching the sun come up on a beach. Better than playing to a packed arena. Better than five-star treatment at the best hotels. Better than everything else."

"I don't believe you."

Jason sat up and pulled Howard up with him.

"Let me show you."

"You've already showed me enough magic." Howard tried to pull his hand back.

"No. Let me teach _you_ how to do magic."

"You're fucking insane," Howard said, and his sudden panic gave him the strength to pull his hand away. But Jason reached out and gently took it again.

"Do you trust me?" As quickly as that, Jason's expression had gone completely serious. He stared at Howard with blue eyes that were still recognizably his even though they were in a girl's face.

"Yeah," Howard whispered.

"You know I won't hurt you?"

"Yeah." He knew it, but it didn't make him any less scared.

"Alright." He took Howard's hand and turned it so his palm was facing up. "Now close your eyes.

"I don't-"

"Trust me." Jason shot him a smile, and Howard couldn't betray the trust Jason was offering him, so he nodded and closed his eyes.

"Now, picture a flame inside of you, burning in your belly."

"You never said magic was about getting a tummy ache."

"No sense of poetry in your soul, is there?"

Howard didn't think he should answer that question.

"Picture a flame," Jason repeated, sounding like he was speaking to a not-very-bright five-year-old. "In your belly."

"Okay, I've pictured the flame."

"What colour is it?"

"What colour is it?!" This was fucking stupid.

"Flames have colour. Mine was blue. What colour is yours?"

"It's fucking flame coloured."

"Howard," Jason said, his voice managing to convey both warning and amusement. "If you're not going to take this seriously…"

"I'm serious." He took a deep breath and thought about the sodding flame in his sodding belly. And there it was. "It's orange," he said, shocked that he could actually see the flame, like it was a real thing and not just something his imagination had dreamed up.

"I thought it might be. You feel orange." And what the fuck did _that_ mean? "Now think about moving the flame through your body. Move it up your chest, and down your arm. Move it into the palm of your hand. Hold it in your hand like it's a small bird. Feel the heat of it, feel the flicker."

"I can feel it!" He could, he could feel the flame in his hand. It was weird, and kind of comforting.

"Great. Now take a deep breath." He did. "Let it out." He did that too. "And open your eyes."

There it was, a small orange flame, flickering in the palm of his hand. And Jason was right, it wasn't scary, it wasn't creepy. It was fucking cool.

"Fucking hell."

"Incredible, isn't it." Jason looked down at their hands, and a little frown of concentration formed on his face. A stronger blue flame sprang up in Howard's palm, mixing with his own flame. He could feel the second flame was Jason, the essence of him. And it was…incredible. Brilliant. It was just like Jason had said.

He looked up and met Jason's gaze, and he couldn't help but smile.

"Teach me more."

* * *

"I've never seen Jason like that before," Rob said as he sprawled across Mark's bed, his arms feeling leaden and shaken at once.

They'd all been sick on tour. You couldn't keep the kind of pace they did and not get sick, and Jason, with his satchel of birdseed and his mental diets, seemed to come down with more than his fair share of bugs. But tonight had been different. This time there had been blood and magic, and for a few brief moments, Rob had thought Jay was actually going to die. It had been fucking scary. Scarier even than finding himself in this crazy world.

"It was bad," Mark agreed. He sat beside Rob on the bed, his back against the headboard as he chewed on a fingernail and looked worried. Rob didn't like seeing Mark worried. It gave him a hollow feeling, right under his heart. "But he's got How to look after him. How'll see him right."

"Wonder if they've shagged," Rob said, forcing his mind away from how weak Jason had been, and letting it drift, as it always naturally did, towards sex. "Each other, I mean."

"I know what you meant." Mark's ears turned a definite shade of pink. Rob didn't mind seeing Mark embarrassed. Not at all. It meant he was getting under his skin, and Rob very much liked getting under Markie's skin.

"Well, what do you think?"

"I don't know, do I?" Mark looked more annoyed than flustered now. "But I do know they won't be shagging tonight."

"No. I'll bet Jason's going to sleep for a week." He sat up and plonked himself beside Mark. "What about you?"

"I don't think I'm going to sleep for a week."

"I didn't mean that." Rob gave Mark an evil grin and dropped his bombshell. "I meant, do you want to shag?"

"What?" Mark's whole face went pink, but Rob was pleased to see that there didn't seem to be any anger mixed in with Mark's shock.

"Do you want to shag? Me, I mean."

"I know who you meant." Mark hadn't said yes, but he also hadn't pulled away. Rob considered that a victory.

"Do you?"

"I thought you wanted to wait until we were boys again to try anything?"

"Since when have I waited for anything?" Rob asked. "We should do it now. We've already kissed. I kissed you, you kissed me, and it wasn't horrible."

"It were nice," Mark agreed, and there was an encouraging smile on his face as he spoke.

"Yeah." Rob sidled closer to Mark, put an arm around him. "Bet I could make it nicer." Before Mark could speak or object or move away, Rob leaned forward and kissed him.

He was over the initial shock of Mark being a girl, of both their bodies feeling rounder and curvier and softer, so this time he let himself enjoy the sensations that began to flood his body, this body that belonged to someone else. He let himself enjoy touch and taste, heat and wet. He experimented and found things that made Mark whimper, made him gasp, and Mark found things that made him feel fucking incredible.

This body wasn't like his own body; it didn't go off from a stiff breeze. This body took time to build its pleasure, and that pleasure went on a long time. A very long time. Forever.

"Fuck me," he finally said after Mark brought him to yet another drawn-out orgasm. 

"That's what I just did," Mark said with a grin.

"You little bastard." He grabbed Mark in a hug and they rolled around on the bed, laughing. Which led to more kissing, which led to more sex. But finally, even their young bodies had had enough, and they lay curled together, satisfied and exhausted.

The sex the next morning wasn't as enthusiastic, but it was just as enjoyable. But you couldn't live on sex, and soon enough Rob found his stomach was grumbling.

"You hungry, Rob?" Mark gave him an evil grin, and then licked his shoulder.

"Go on, you." He pushed Mark away. "Don't tell me you're not hungry." 

"I'm not." Just then, Mark's stomach growled. "Alright, maybe I am."

"Room service." 

"Eggs and beans for me. I'll bet the Savoy does brilliant eggs and beans."

"You could have anything you want, and that's what you ask for?" He sometimes wondered about Mark.

"It's my favourite breakfast. Why wouldn't I want my favourite breakfast?"

But he did have a point.

He picked up the phone and ordered breakfast: two orders of eggs and beans, plenty of toast, pots of coffee, and champagne and orange juice, because what they'd done certainly deserved champagne. When the food came they ate it sprawled on the bed, feeding each other, and the crumbs be damned. The maid would be in to clean up eventually.

He was popping the last bit of toast in his mouth and considering the further possibilities of sex with Markie when he felt something. A tingling in the air, a prickling of his skin. It made him sit up and concentrate, as if he were trying to hear a sound a long way off.

"What's wrong?" Mark said, sitting up straight and looking at Rob with concern.

"Can't you feel that?" Rob said. It was, he realized, something he'd been feeling for a while, bubbling under the surface. Ever since they'd landed in this world. But now it was getting stronger.

"What?" Mark looked confused.

"That!" Rob said, as the tingling got stronger, became an actual sound fizzing inside his head. "C'mon!" He grabbed Mark's hand and dragged him towards the door, thankful they'd both put some clothes on for the room service delivery, even if it was just t-shirts and trackies. He followed the sensation out this door and down the corridor, past Paula at her security desk. He saw Mark shrug at her, and Paula roll her eyes, but he ignored them both. He had to find out what the fuck was going on.

He found himself standing at Howard and Jason's door, with the fizzing almost unbearable now.

"You really can't feel that?" he asked Mark.

"No." Mark shook his head, and looked at him like he was slightly mad.

"There's something going on in there." And before Mark could say anything or stop him, he was knocking on the door.

"Dougie! Jay! Open up. Are you okay?"

He had to knock three more times before Jason opened the door, and then he pushed past him and dragged Mark in with him.

"Can you feel that, Jay?" he asked, only half noting that Jason wasn't looking like death warmed over anymore.

"Feel what?"

"A tingling, buzzing sort of feeling. It was coming from your room." He looked around the room, half-expecting to see some sort of monster lurking in one corner. "But it's stopped now." He shook his head, wondering if he'd been imagining things. "Was driving me a bit mad."

Jason looked between him and Howard.

"When did this tingling, buzzing sort of feeling start?" Jason asked.

"I don't know. I think it's been there since we got here, but the last fifteen minutes or so it started getting _loud_."

Jason looked at Howard, and then made an odd request.

"Close your eyes, Rob."

"What?"

"Close your eyes. Just for a minute."

Against his better judgment, he closed his eyes. He shouldn't have done. He'd wound Jason up enough over the years that it was entirely likely this was all some elaborate, piss-taking revenge plot. But he didn't think Jay would wind him up just now.

"Okay, How," Jason said.

At first there was nothing. Then he heard Mark gasp and felt it building again, the tingling in his head, getting bigger and bigger until he thought it was going to drive him mad.

"What _is_ that?" he asked.

"Open your eyes."

He didn't open his eyes, not right away. He was too afraid of what he might find. But he finally had to know what was going on, and opened one eye ever so slightly.

Howard was standing across the room from him, holding out his arms, with a roaring, orange flame cupped in his hands.

"You can do magic."

"Yeah." Howard ducked his head in what seemed to be embarrassment. The flame in his hands stuttered and went out, and Rob felt the buzzing in his head fizzle out with it.

"You can really do magic!"

He'd accepted that Jason could do magic. Somehow that made sense. But if Howard could do it too…

"Can we all do magic?" he asked Jason. "Me and Markie and all?"

"I don't know." Jason shrugged. "I think everyone here can do at least a bit of magic."

"Can you teach us?"

"I don't know," Jason said again, and Rob was getting tired of those three words.

"You taught Howard. You can teach us." He looked over to where Mark was standing. "You want to do magic, don't you, Mark?"

Mark nodded, and if he wasn't quite as enthusiastic about the possibility of learning magic as he was, Rob didn't let that bother him. Because of course Markie wanted to do magic, even if he didn't realize it yet. 

This was going to be brilliant. It might even be better than the sex.

* * *

Gary was used to being a bit apart from the crowd. Had been ever since school, when no other kids he'd known had spent every waking hour playing keyboards in their bedroom, or had a job playing in a men's club from the time they were thirteen. Things had been similar in the band, where his song writing had placed him apart from the boys. The others sometimes had days off, but even when they weren't recording or promoting or touring, he always was thinking of the next song, was always feeling the pressure to write another hit.

But he'd never felt quite as apart as he did now.

Part of it was about the others pairing off, but only part of it. After all, Rob and Mark being together wasn't exactly a surprise. Gary had always half thought they were shagging in their own world. Howard and Jason hadn't been as obvious as a couple, but now that it had happened, he could see it made sense. No, them being couples wasn't the real problem.

The real problem was the magic.

This morning, Gary had slept in, ordered room service, and then wandered over to How and Jay's room to see if Jay was okay. Jason was more than okay. He was benevolently supervising magic lessons for the other three. Howard was levitating a glass, Mark was making a purple flame shimmer and sparkle in his hand, and Rob…Rob was building a phoenix out of red flame in the air.

"Gaz," Rob said, and without his full attention on it, his phoenix evaporated into nothing. "We can do magic!"

Rob was as bouncy as Gary had ever seen him, as bouncy as he'd been when they'd all broken a bed after Promises had charted.

"So, I see," Gary said. He was amazed at how steady he sounded. Then again, the past two days had been full of weirdness. The boys doing magic was no weirder than the boys being girls.

"We can all do magic." Mark was nearly as excited as Rob. "Jay's teaching us."

"Do you want to give it a try, Gaz?" Jason asked.

Gary hesitated, then gave Jason a nod. After all, what did he have to lose?

Two hours later, what he'd lost was his dignity and his patience. Two hours of Jason's instruction, Mark's encouragement, Howard's amusement, and Rob's mockery, and he hadn't done any more magic than a produce a tiny, wet squib of a flame in his palm for all of ten seconds before it fizzled out. It seems he had that much in common with Gayle; neither one of them could do magic worth a toss.

When Rob asked Jason to teach them more spells, and Jason suggested they get help from Jamie or Paula—"After all, I don't imagine Nigella would hire bodyguards in a magical world who can't protect us from magic"—Gary took advantage of the uproar and faded back to his room. He'd had enough of watching everyone else succeed at something he couldn't do. Not that he knew what to do with himself. He watched telly, and flipped the radio up and down the dial, and even tried to write, but nothing held his interest. By the time evening fell, he was bored and lonely. But not lonely enough to see if the boys had stopped doing magic.

Then he put his hand in his pocket and found a slip of paper Don had given him.

"I'm doing some auditions down here this week," Don had said before he'd left. "I'm staying with a friend. You can call me if you like." He'd nodded at the number on the paper. "If you have time," he'd added shyly.

Well, he certainly had the time he thought as he dialled the number.

Don sounded eager on the phone, and hearing his voice, Gary realized he was really looking forward to seeing this boyfriend he'd inherited from Gayle. Don was at his door in less than an hour, and as soon as he was in the room, he had Gary in his arms and was kissing him. It didn't feel awkward this time. It felt natural. It felt good. And even though he wasn't who Don thought he was, the connection between the two of them felt so very real. 

It was going to be hard, leaving Don in this world. 

As they kissed, Gary began to think about Dawn in their world. He wondered if he'd feel as immediate a connection with her as he had with Don. He was going to have to find her when they got home.

If they got home.

Don stayed the night, a night of snogging and shagging and talking that was one of the best he'd ever had. Gary woke before it was even light outside to find Don getting dressed and ready to go.

"You're leaving?" he asked, stupidly disappointed that Don had nearly left without waking him.

"I've got two auditions today." Don gave him a kiss. "Have to be there bright and early, get warmed up before I'm called."

"You'll come back tonight, though." Gary hoped he didn't sound as needy as he felt.

"'Course I will. Though it might be late. You never know how long they're going to keep you."

"Come whenever you can."

Another kiss, and Don was gone for the day.

Gary spent most of the day on his own again, though he did have lunch with the other boys in Mark's room, happy that they restrained themselves from doing magic while he was there. Though Rob did float his cutlery across the room when he thought Gary wasn't watching.

But when evening came, he was back in his own room, waiting eagerly for Don's return, with room service standing ready to deliver a romantic dinner.

Don greeted him with a kiss.

"I missed you," he said. 

"How were the auditions?" Gary asked.

"Horrible." He made a face. "They kept us there for hours at the second one, and kept throwing new routines at us every few minutes. I'm going to be in pain for days." He stretched one leg, and Gary couldn't help but admire his form, however much pain Don said he was in. "I met one of your admirers at that audition."

"My admirers?"

"Well, the band's."

"Who?"

"Simone Cowell. I think she was looking for dancers for a video for one of her acts."

Gary froze. Given what Nigella thought Cowell had done to them, he didn't want any contact with the woman, even second hand.

"Oh, yeah," he said, trying to sound casual. "Did you talk to her?"

"Yeah. She came over to me." Don went wide-eyed, like he couldn't believe someone like Cowell had actually bothered with the likes of him. "Asked me if I was missing you. She thought you'd gone back to Manchester."

"And what did you tell her?"

"I told her that you were still in the city and I was seeing you tonight."

Gary's heart started beating fast.

"Did you tell her where we were?"

"Yeah. It sounded like she wanted to get in touch." He must have read Gary's mood on his face, because he suddenly looked worried. "Did I do something wrong?"

"Fuck." Gary took a deep breath and tried to rein in his own panic. After all, he hadn't told Don not to tell anyone where they were. How was he supposed to know Don would run into Cowell. "Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck."

"I did do something wrong." Don looked positively ill.

"It's not your fault, but we'd rather Cowell didn't know where we are. There's…" he paused, trying to figure out just what he could say, settling finally on a mundane explanation. "There's bad blood between Cowell and Nigella. We tend to avoid her when we can. So if you run into her again, don't tell her anything else about us, yeah?"

"I'm sorry." Don had lost all the colour in his face, and was looking for something to do with his hands. "I didn't know I was doing anything wrong."

"It's okay." Gary grabbed his hands and held them tight. He could feel Don trembling in his grasp. "I should have told you we didn't want anyone to know we were here."

"I'm so sorry," Don said again.

"I've got to go tell the other lad-I mean girls that Cowell knows." He started letting go of Don's hand, but Don only held on tighter.

"Can I come with you?"

"Umm." Let Don come along, Gary knew, and it was going to be hard to keep their secret. But he was suddenly unsure if that was a bad thing or not. He hadn't told Don who he was before because they weren't telling _anyone_. But now that Lou and Nigella knew, it was beginning to look distinctly unfair that Gary was still impersonating Don's girlfriend without telling him. In fact, viewed from a certain angle, it looked downright creepy.

But it wasn't just his secret. The other boys had a stake in who knew the truth. They'd all decided to tell both Lou and Nigella; they should have a stake in whether they told Don as well.

"Alright," he finally said, and began pulling Don to the door. "You can come. We'll talk to the others together."

* * *

Rob was beginning to think he was really going to miss this world. Sex whenever he wanted—even better, sex with Markie!—and without sneaking around Nigel, no bollockings, and he could do magic. He could actually fucking do magic. How cool was that?

He and Mark had been practising spells with Howard and Jay all day. But unlike putting together a new dance routine, this didn't feel like work at all. It felt like something he'd been born to do.

They'd quickly exhausted the little Nigella had taught Jason, and had drafted Paula and Jamie to show them other spells. 

"I don't get it," Paula had said after she'd shown them a basic invisibility spell. "Shouldn't you lot know this already?" She turned to Jason. "You definitely should, Jay."

"We're just a bit…rusty," Jason had improvised. "Been too busy to practise at all."

"Hmm," Paula had said, but seem to mostly accept what he'd said. Or, at least she didn't push for a better explanation.

Paula was back patrolling the hallway against invading fans, Jamie had taken over the magical instruction, and they were taking a break. Magic was hard work, harder even than dancing, for all that he was loving it. Rob was lying on the bed, nearly dozing, when there was a knock on the door.

"Who is it?" Jason asked.

"It's me." Gary's voice was tense. Jason let him in, but he wasn't alone. He dragged Don into the room with him.

"Don's got something to tell us."

"Yeah, I-"

"But first, I think we've got something we should tell him." Gary looked at Jamie and nodded. "And Jamie and Paula, too."

"Gaz." Jason's voice was full of warning.

"I owe him, Jason. And it might mean our lives if Jamie and Paula don't know what they're dealing with."

"'Ang on," Jamie said, standing up and looking concerned. "What exactly _are_ we dealing with?"

Before anyone could say anything else, there was another knock on the door, and then Paula opened it with her passkey and let in Nigella.

Nigella looked pleased for all of about two seconds, before she looked around the room and got a read on the situation. Rob always wondered later if she'd used magic to suss out what was going on, or just her normal senses. Fuck knew there was a lot of regular human tension in the room.

"Don has something to tell us," Gary said, though by this time Rob could see that Don was beyond nervous about sharing whatever it was he knew. "And I thought we should tell Don, you know…" He trailed off, even as he held more tightly onto Don's hand. 

Rob started his usual slow fade into the background whenever he could see a bollocking coming. Because as understanding as Nigella was, there was no way she wasn't going to freak out about telling Don their secret.

As if to confirm his suspicions, Nigella frowned, wrinkled her nose and crossed her arms, and for a brief moment she reminded Rob of Nigel the time he'd asked him if he could shag that girl in a Brighton B&B. Rob was just calculating if he had enough time to run for the toilet and lock himself in, when Nigella finally spoke.

"I suppose it would make sense to tell Don. Given his relationship with you."

And fucking hell, if Nigella hadn't just upset his expectations again.

"And Jamie and Paula?" Gary said. Rob was impressed at Gaz's bollocks. Because he didn't think he'd have pressed the point with Nigella.

"And Jamie and Paula," Nigella agreed, then nodded at Gary. "Would you do the honours?"

"Yeah," Gary said, more than a bit reluctantly. "Umm…"

"Oh, for fuck's…" Nigella rolled her eyes. "Jay you tell them."

Jay stood up straight and cleared his throat.

"We're not who you think we are. We're actually boys from an alternate dimension, and Nigella is looking for a spell to get us home."

Rob had heard that explanation spoken out loud three times now, and it sounded utterly daft every time. But he could see that Don and Paula and Jamie didn't think it was daft.

Don looked, well, shocked about summed it up. His face had gone pale, his jaw had dropped, and as he watched, he dropped Gary's hand. And no wonder. He wouldn't have liked to find out that he'd been shagging some bloke in his girlfriend's body. Gary didn't look much better. He looked fucking terrified, like he'd just lost something he'd only just realized he cared about.

Paula and Jamie didn't look shocked or terrified. They looked resigned, like this was one more absurd thing they'd had to deal with in their jobs. Given the stuff they'd put Paul and James through in their own world, Rob wondered if this was even the weirdest thing they'd had had to handle with the band. The things they could have got up to if they'd been able to do magic…

"I think you should sit down, love," Nigella was saying to Don. He nodded, and dropped gracelessly onto the chair he was standing beside. Gary stayed at his side, even if Don couldn't seem to bring himself to even look at him. "Now, what is it you have to tell us?" She patted Don on the back, and that seemed to bring him back from whatever place he'd gone to.

"Well…I was at an audition today, and I ran into Simone Cowell, and-"

Nigella tensed immediately at the mention of Cowell's name, and Don, sensing the danger there, stopped talking. As Rob watched, Nigella relaxed, and forced a well-meaning but not entirely sincere smile on her face. 

"Go on, love. It's better we know what we're dealing with."

"And I told her you all were still in London and that you were staying here," Don rattled out in a rush.

If this were Nigel, Rob would have expected screaming and ranting and throwing of whatever came to hand. But Nigella wasn't Nigel. The expression on her face wasn't fury, but disappointment, with possibly a tiny bit of fear mixed in. That fear worried Rob. If Nigella was such a powerful magician, and she was scared…it didn't bear thinking on.

"Well," Nigella finally said. "That's going to make things harder."

"I'm sorry," Don said, his voice so very quiet.

"It's alright, love. You couldn't have known it was a problem." Nigella patted him on the shoulder, then began pacing the room. "If Simone wants to stop us, let her try."

"Have you found a way to get us home?" Jason asked the question they all wanted to know.

"I have." Nigella stopped her pacing and looked at them all. "At least I think I have. But it's going to take all of us working together. And we're going to have to work quickly."

"We can do that," Howard said, stepping up to stand at Jason's side.

"I know you can." She gave them all a proud look, then turned to Don. "I know this is a shock for you, but I need to talk to the band alone, so we can get Gayle and the other girls back."

Don nodded, but didn't say a word, and he wouldn't look at Gary.

"Would you two look after Don?" Nigella asked Jamie and Paula.

"Okay," Jamie said, as Paula gently got Don to his feet and to the door. "But you'll let us know what's going on from now on, yeah? This lot might not be our numpties, but we'll do our best to look after them. And we'll do even more to get our girls back."

"I will," Nigella assured him. "We're going to need help from both of you before the end."

Jamie nodded, then he and Paula led Don out the door. Rob watched until the door closed after then, and then he turned to Nigella.

"Right," Rob said. "What do you need us to do?"

* * *

"The first thing I need you to do," Nigella said, "is to look at the band schedule for the next week."

"You can't want us to do any promotion." Rob sounded extremely pissed off. But then Rob always sounded pissed off when Nigella was around. Howard supposed he couldn't help it. Given what Nigel had done to Rob, what they knew now that he'd done to Jason, Howard could see why Rob was tempted to take out his anger and fear on Nigella.

"Not really, no." Nigella took a slightly crumpled piece of paper out of her bag. "But the spell that will get you home depends on you being in the same place in this world as the girls are in your world. It'll be easier to manage that if it's a place you're supposed to be anyway." She passed the paper to Jason. "These are the events the band was scheduled to do this week. Do you recognize any of them?"

Howard peered at the paper over Jason's shoulder, and tried to remember what Nigel had booked them for. The problem was, half the time they didn't know what they were doing until the morning, when Nigel or one of his assistants would stick a piece of paper under their hotel room door with a list of their appearances for the day. It had all got to be so chaotic that Howard barely paid attention to what they were meant to be doing. He just got in the limos, went where he was supposed to, and smiled when there was a camera on him.

Fortunately, somebody else _had_ been paying attention.

"That one." Mark stabbed his finger at one line on the paper. "We were going to do that, weren't we, Jay?"

Howard squinted and read the listing: Industry Showcase, Marquee Club. Christ, that was three days from now. He wasn't sure if that was too long to wait, or too soon to prepare, but either way it scared him. To compensate, he put his arm around Jason and held him tightly.

"What do you think, Jay?" he asked. "Does that look familiar?"

Jason bit his lip, and then nodded.

"Mark's right," Jason said. "We were going to do that showcase. I remember being a bit excited we were going to play the Marquee." He turned to Howard. "The Who played the Marquee."

Howard rolled his eyes. Trust Jason to be up on his rock history. It was surprising it wasn't bloody Pink Floyd.

"That's good," Nigella was saying under her breath. "I can work with that space, and we should be able to prepare in time." She folded the paper up and put it back in her bag. "I'll cancel all other appearances. Now there's just one thing that we have to do right now."

She looked directly at Jason, and Howard felt a cold chill run down his spine. He wasn't sure what exactly Nigella was going to say, but he knew it was going to be hard on Jason.

"What's that?" Jason asked. His voice was calm, but Howard could feel him tremble under his touch.

"We've got to tell the girls that they need to be at that showcase in your world. Just in case they're tempted to skip it."

"I doubt Nigel would let them skip anything," Howard said, desperate to avoid what he knew had to happen.

"You're probably right," Nigella said. "But we can't take the chance. The window for getting you back where you come from will close soon. If we miss this opportunity, you'll be stuck here, and my girls will be stuck in your world."

"I'm going to have to go back there, aren't I?" Jason said.

Howard had to stop himself from throwing himself between Jason and Nigella. 

"I thought you said that would kill him," he said, nearly shouting the words. Because he didn't want to see Jason like he'd been in Simpson's, collapsed on the floor, looking barely alive.

"I said it would eventually kill him. But one more trip back won't."

"It won't kill him, but it will hurt him, won't it?" Howard stared straight at Nigella. To her credit, she stared straight back without flinching.

"Yes," she agreed. "It will hurt him. But I'll protect him as best I can. And you can help protect him, too. If you like."

"Of course I'd fucking like."

"You all can help," Nigella said.

Which was how they found themselves sitting cross-legged on the floor in a circle, each holding the hands of the people on either side of them. Howard had hold of Jason on one side and Mark on the other. Jay was holding Nigella's hand on his other side.

"You all understand what you need to do?" Nigella looked at each of them. "You can't follow us. You need to stay grounded here, give us an anchor to travel to, a cushion to fall back on."

"We understand," Howard said, answering for them all.

"Alright." Nigella took a deep breath and looked at Jason. "Are you ready, Jay?"

Jay looked at Howard, his blue eyes bright with a worry that did nothing to settle Howard's mind.

"Yeah, I'm ready." He settled himself and squeezed Howard's hand. "Let's go."

Jason and Nigella both closed their eyes, their chests rising and falling as they concentrated on whatever it was they were doing. Howard could feel the power in the room around them, could taste the tang of electricity in the air. And he could feel when it happened, when they left the room, left their bodies, and started travelling towards their own world.

Mark gripped his hand so tightly it hurt, and he knew Markie could feel it too, that they all could. But no one spoke. They all kept the circle together and stayed silent, like Nigella had told them to. Howard concentrated on being _here_ , on giving Jay something to come back to.

It seemed they stayed like that forever, suspended between breaths, caught in a moment out of time. But then there was a change in the room, an arc of electricity, a chill in the air. Howard held his breath and reached out to Jason, willing him to come back, to be safe.

He could feel a tremor start in Jay's hand and move through his body. Howard held his hand more tightly, even as he felt a wrench in his own chest, as if someone was trying to pull him out of this reality. Jason's eyes snapped open, he took in a great, heaving gasp of air, and then he collapsed into Howard's lap.

This time it wasn't a trickle of blood that flowed from Jason's nose, it was a flood that covered them both.

"Mark, get tissues," Howard barked, as he held Jason in his arms, while beside him Nigella returned with a start and quickly took charge.

"Hold my hand, Rob," she demanded, and Rob did, any reluctance at being near Nigella trumped by his need to help his band mate. Then as Howard held Jason, and he and Mark tried to stop the bleeding, Nigella put her free palm on Jason's forehead and spoke in a voice of power and authority.

Howard didn't know what she was saying. It sounded like it might be Latin or Greek or who the fuck knew what language, but he knew there was power in those words, power that flowed from Nigella and Rob. Power that he could almost see. Power that was healing Jason.

Shudders rolled through Jason. He arched his back and his eyes rolled back in his head, and Howard thought he was going to lose him this time. But then the shaking stopped, and the bleeding stopped, and every muscle in Jason's body eased, and he relaxed in Howard's arms, out cold.

"Fucking hell," Gary whispered, and Howard knew why. He, Jason and Mark were all covered in Jason's blood. Beneath the blood, Jason's skin was a sickly white, and he was so bonelessly unconscious that Howard might have thought he was dead if he hadn't been able to feel Jay's heart pounding in his chest.

"The hotel isn't going to like what we did to their room," Rob said. "I don't think blood-spattered red is quite their colour scheme." Howard might almost have laughed if he hadn't been so terrified.

"Did it work?" Gary asked Nigella. And Howard hoped it fucking had, because if they hadn't managed to contact Jay's other self, he didn't fancy Jay surviving another attempt.

"Yeah." Nigella nodded. "Jayshri knows what to do." She looked down at Jason and drew her hand lightly through his hair. Though he knew it wasn't fair, it was all Howard could do not to snatch Jason away from her. Instead, he held Jason closer to him, burying his own face in his hair.

"Look after him, Howard," Nigella said. As if he needed encouragement to do that. "And you all need a good night's sleep. We'll meet in the morning, talk about what comes next."

"We'll be ready," Rob said, speaking for all of them. "Just tell us what we have to do."

* * *

Jason woke feeling as if he'd been hit by a lorry. By several lorries, in fact, and then given an enthusiastic kicking by a rogue football team for good measure. He rolled onto his side and moaned when his body decided that moving was even more painful than not moving.

He felt a rustling beside him, and opened his eyes to find Howard sitting on the bed beside him, his eyebrows drawn together, his mouth pulled into a serious frown. The curtains were closed tightly, and the only light in the room came from a lamp on Howard's side of the bed.

"What time is it?" he asked, and wasn't at all surprised when his voice came out as a mere croak.

"Nine."

"Morning or night?"

"Morning." Howard let out a laugh that had absolutely no humour in it. "You've only been out for one night. Thank God." Howard reached out to touch him, seemed to think better of it, and drew his hand back. "How do you feel?"

"Like utter shit." Ignoring his pain, he sat up and reached out for Howard. He linked his fingers with Howard's, feeling better for the contact. "But I'll survive." 

Howard moved closer to him, and slowly put his arms around Jason.

"That okay?"

"Perfect." Jason let himself relax against Howard's chest with a sigh. "I wish Nigella had used her healing spell on me this time."

"She did." Howard ran his hand lightly up and down Jason's back. "Her and Rob. Rob gave her extra power, and she cast the spell." 

"Oh." Jason was quiet, trying to take it all in.

"The two of them saved your life, Jay." 

"You all saved my life." 

"I didn't do much. I mostly sat there."

"You didn't." Jason didn't think Howard would ever just "mostly sit there" if he was in trouble. 

"Well, your nose was bleeding like a bastard, and Mark and I tried to stop it."

"Did you stop it?"

"It stopped, though I think that came down more to Nigella's magic than us pinching your nose."

Howard was trying to keep his tone light, but Jason could hear the fear behind it, could see the horror in Howard's eyes. Last night had been bad enough from inside his head; he imagined it had looked even worse from the outside.

"I'm sorry I put you through that."

"It was nothing," Howard said. "I was more worried about getting the blood out of my clothes." The joke fell flat, and Jason could tell Howard's heart wasn't in it. And that's when he realized he couldn't do it, couldn't fend off the horror of what they'd been through with humour. He needed to face his own fear, and Howard needed to face his. It was the only way to move forward.

"It wasn't nothing, Howard. It was a lot."

"It weren't." Howard blushed and turned away, and Jason could see one way this could go, with Howard pulling away from him and distance forming between them and them falling apart before they'd been properly together for long. He didn't want that. He absolutely didn't want it. He wanted them to be together for a long time. Forever, if they could manage it.

"Don't," he said, and reached out to pull Howard back to him.

"Don't what?" Howard wasn't looking at him.

"Don't pull away. Don't pretend it was nothing. Because it wasn't nothing. It was something, what you did. And it means a lot to me."

"You don't have to say that," Howard said, and that made Jason sad. Because it was yet another indication of what Nigel had done to them, reduced their aspirations of what they needed, of what they deserved.

"I don't have to. I _want_ to." He swallowed, and gathered his thoughts, tried to figure out exactly how to tell Howard what he meant to him. "When the spell went wrong this time, I really thought I was going to die. I felt like I was being pulled through the darkness over broken glass, and I didn't think there'd be anything left of me by the time I got back to this world. But then I felt Mark and Gary and Robbie and you. Especially you. Rob might have more magic, but you shone the brightest for me. It was your light I followed back, and your strength that softened the blow when I landed. You saved me, as much as Nigella and her magic did."

Howard tried to pull away, but Jason wouldn't let him. He held on tight, and looked straight at Howard, even as Howard tried to look away.

"If anything happens, I need you to know one thing, Howard. This," he pulled Howard forward and kissed him as fiercely as he could, "is not because we're friends, not because I like you a lot. It's because I fucking love you." 

Howard let out a sound part way between a sob and a whimper, but he didn't try to pull away again. Instead, he moved closer to Jason, threw his arms around him and hugged him tightly. Jason thought he could feel a suspicious dampness on his cheek.

"I love you, too, Jay," Howard said, accompanying his words with a strong hug. "I love you, too."

Jason found he was laughing and crying all at once. Whatever happened, however pear-shaped things went from this point forward, he couldn't regret any of it, not if it had got them to this point.

* * *

The next two days were lonelier than Gary had expected.

Not because he was alone. There was too much to do for him to be left alone. Nigella was constantly running them through what they had to know of the spells to bring them home—even his limited magical ability would be needed on the day. Time not spent on magic was spent with Kim, learning the live choreography for the performance of Relight at the showcase.

"I don't care if you're not really my band," Kim said after she'd joined the small circle of those who knew their secret. "I'm not going to let you fuck up the performance. If you blow it, it'll be my girls who have to deal with the embarrassment." So they'd run through the number again and again, tweaking their movements until Kim was satisfied and even Gary thought he could do them in his sleep.

No, not being around people in general wasn't why Gary was lonely.

Not being around Don specifically, that was the problem.

Gary hadn't seen Don at all after Jason had told him who they really were. He hadn't popped by and hadn't called. And Gary got it, he really did. He didn't know if he'd be able to forgive someone who'd taken over his girlfriend's body, who'd pretended to be that person. But it didn't mean Gary didn't miss him. Because he did. A few days they'd had together, not many hours at all, and in that time Don had threaded his way into Gary's heart so thoroughly that his absence caused only pain.

And the others had noticed.

This morning after a final rehearsal in a hotel meeting room and a final run through of the spells with Nigella, Jason had taken him aside and asked him if he was okay. Jason, who'd been through more than any of them, who'd nearly been killed by the magic in this place twice now, was asking _Gary_ if he was okay. Gary had insisted he was fine, given Jay a hug, and tried not to focus on the hollow in his heart.

Now with less than an hour to go until their performance, until they either made it to their own world or died trying, the thing he most regretted was that he wouldn't be able to tell Don he was sorry he'd lied to him.

"Christ, this place is a dive." Rob picked at a thread hanging from the battered sofa he was sat on. He wasn't wrong. The dressing room they were currently holed up in was tiny, with battered furniture and graffiti scrawled on the wall.

"There's history in this place," Jason said in defence. "The Who played here."

"The Who played at the old location," Rob said. "The club's only been here a few years." He kicked at the rickety table in front of him. "This furniture isn't historical, it's just fucking old."

Gary could see Jason bristling, could see the argument about to happen. It was a miracle there hadn't been one before, really. Rob always liked winding up Jason, and Christ knew they'd all been under enough pressure. But before Gary decided whether he should step in or let them both get it out of their systems, there was a knock at the door.

"Gary?" Paula poked her head in the room. "There's someone to see you."

"Me?" Gary stood and walked to the door. "Who is it?" 

Paula moved out of the way and Gary poked his head out the door, and there was Don, standing in the hall.

"There's another dressing room no one's using," Paula said, and pushed them both in the right direction. Leaving Gary in a room alone with the one person he'd wanted to see, and the one person he didn't know what to say to.

Don stared at him, equally tongue tied.

"I didn't think you'd ever want to talk to me again," Gary finally blurted out.

"You have to admit, I had a good reason not to," Don said with a half smile. "You were pretending to be my girlfriend."

"Yeah." Gary grimaced. "Sorry." 

"Well, if I'm being honest, it was partly my fault." Don reached out and drew his thumb lightly across Gary's chin. "I did rather pounce on you that first night."

"You did at that." Gary lightly took hold of Don's hand and experienced a moment of regret that there was no time for pouncing tonight.

"Have you ever met her?"

"Who?"

"The other me. The one in your world."

"I have, actually."

"What's she like?"

"Like you." Don laughed. "No, really," Gary said. "Dawn is pretty and lovely and very, very shy. She can't do magic, though. No one in our world can."

"She's your girlfriend."

"No. Not yet." 

"But, the way you talk about her…" Don looked confused.

"I met her once on the set of a video shoot, and she was so shy she wouldn't even talk to me. But I never forgot about her. Not for a minute."

Don squeezed his hand.

"Look for her. I have a feeling you two belong together."

"Is that your expert opinion?"

"It _is_ , actually."

"Gary," Paula said, poking her head in the room. "Ten minutes to curtain."

"I should go." Don started to leave.

"Wait." Gary grabbed Don's hand and held him tightly. He looked in his eyes. "I want you to know I didn't mean to hurt you. You're a lovely person, and I hope Gayle makes you happy."

"Thank you," Don said. "You're lovely, too." He kissed Gary on the cheek. "Now you go home, and then look for your Dawn."

Before Gary could say anything else, Don gave him one final hug and was gone.

He made it back to the dressing room just as Nigella did.

"You alright, Gary?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"Alright." She put a hand on his shoulder. "Then let's get you lot home."

* * *

The last two days had flown by in such a flurry that Mark hadn't had time to think. He'd been too busy learning choreography and perfecting his backing vocals and learning his part in the spell they needed. They'd finish up for the day, exhausted, Rob would come back to his room, they'd order something sweet and disgusting from room service, and then they'd fall into bed together and…sleep. Just sleep. They'd had no energy for anything else.

But now that it was nearly time for their performance, and for the magic that was going to get them home, Mark felt like he was suddenly doing all of the thinking he hadn't had time for. He was thinking about being a girl, and having Rob as a girlfriend, and if they could be the same in their world as boyfriends, and how different it was going out here than in their world, and how different Nigella was from Nigel. And he was coming up with some conclusions that were terrifying him.

So when Nigella came into the dressing room and said "let's get you lot home," Mark's response was immediate and instinctual.

"I don't want to go home," Mark blurted out. "I just don't." He liked what he and Rob had here, and he didn't think they'd survive as boyfriends in their own world. He liked the way girls looked up to them here, instead of looking at them like meat. And he liked Nigella, and the way she always put a positive spin on everything, and always was supportive. The thought of facing Nigel and the bollockings and petty indignities he heaped on them all was more than he could bear. And then there was what Nigel had done to Jason. As much as he missed his mum and dad, his brother and sister and friends, Mark really would rather stay here in this strange universe where magic was real and they were all girls.

He looked around the room and saw a conflicted expression on everyone else's faces.

Everyone but Jason.

"We can't stay here, Mark," Jason said, his voice soft and kind, but with a passion behind it, and his expression showed no doubt at all. "These aren't our bodies, and this isn't our world."

"But it could be our world. We could stay."

"We can't."

"How can you say that?" Mark said, suddenly panicking. "You of all people. How can you want to go back _there_?"

"I don't want to go back," Jason said.

"Well, then-"

"I don't want to go back, but I have to. Because if I don't go back, then Jayshri will be stuck in my body, and stuck with Nigel. And she doesn't deserve that."

"You don't deserve it either." Mark could feel the tears welling up in his eyes. Before he could say anything else, Jason wrapped him in a warm and protective hug.

"None of us deserve it, Mark. But it's our world. We have to deal with it. And we have to let the girls have their world and their friends and their families back."

Before Jason could say anything else, Rob had his arms around them both. Then Howard and Gary joined the group hug. And finally, even Nigella joined in. Mark felt cherished, wrapped in the warmth of the others. He felt valued. He felt like he could face their world, and Nigel and all.

"You ready to go back now, Mark?" Jason said.

"Yeah." And he was. He could face whatever he had to, knowing his friends were at his side.

They pulled apart, and as they did, Mark could see Nigella, looking at them all with a fond smile.

"I'm so proud of all of you," she said. "I wish you _could_ stay here." She blinked, and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand before she stood up tall. "But you remember, you all have a voice. If you all stand together, no one can hurt you." She looked at Jason. "No one."

Jason returned her gaze, and then nodded.

"We'll remember," he said, then turned to all of them. "All right, you lot. Let's go put on a show."

* * *

Jason hated playing industry gigs.

It wasn't like playing a real concert, where the fans were all there for them from the start, roaring and screaming, giving them the energy they needed to get through the show. At an industry gig, the audience were men in suits who couldn't give a monkey's about the band, and barely paid attention when they were playing. And apart the Marquee's history, it was a lousy venue. The stage was tiny compared to the venues they were used to playing now, more like something from their road show days when they performed to backing tracks from a portable PA. But now their musicians were crammed onto the back, waiting for them to take the stage, and there was barely enough room at the front for them to stand, let alone do any actual choreography.

"I know it's ridiculous," Kim had told them during rehearsals, "but do your best."

Jason still wasn't sure what was more impressive, that they'd managed to put together a routine that worked with the song and didn't get anyone knocked off the tiny stage, or that they'd all learned what they needed for the spell to get them home. 

"Tell me again why we do these things?" Jason said to Howard as they waited backstage for their cue.

"To keep the pillocks from the label happy?" Howard said.

"I don't know if I'm happy or sad that the girls have to put up with the same kind of shit that we do."

"Stop talking and move, you two," Gary said from behind them. "That's our cue now!"

They all pushed onto the stage and moved right into their first dance moves, to the utter indifference of the pillocks from the label, and the utter joy of a dozen girls gathered at the front of the stage, clapping and screaming. They were the only thing that made these industry gigs survivable, the small group of daughters and contest winners who inevitably got invited along. Jason gave a wink to one of the girls, a shy-looking girl in a shapeless jumper and huge glasses, and was rewarded with a smile that he wouldn't soon forget.

"Help me escape this feeling of insecurity," Gary sang, and Jason couldn't help but feel that line rather summed up their situation at the moment.

He looked out into the audience. He could see Jamie and Paula stationed on either side of the entrance, looking as calm and collected in the face of expected insanity as their James and Paul always did. Further in the club, Nigella stood by the bar, looking a bit less calm and collected, but still ready to act.

They hit the middle of the song, and Lou came out, ready with his big voice and his gaudy magic to kick the song up to the next level. As they gathered around Lou on the stage, supporting him and egging each other on, Jason forgot for a moment why they were really there and concentrated solely on the performance, on doing the best job they could, on doing Kim and Nigella and the whole team of people behind the girls proud. As he looked out into the crowd, he even saw a few of the pillocks in suits begin to take notice. He caught Howard's eye and flashed him a smile, and was rewarded with a brilliant smile in return.

_We're going to do it_ , he thought. _We're going to get home with no drama, no fuss. It's going to work._

But then he noticed someone entering the club, a dark-haired woman in a mannish suit with a hard expression that he recognized from a picture Nigella had shown them: Simone Cowell.

Around them, he could feel the rest of the boys tensing up as they realized who was in the club with them, but they didn't let it affect their performance. Whatever else he'd done, Nigel had trained them all to be professionals, and they'd be professionals to the end. They finished the song, applauded Lou, then joined hands to take their bows as the girls in front of them went mental.

They were arranged the way Nigella had ordered. Jason and Rob, whose powers would fuel the spell, were at the outside. Jason held Howard's hand, and Rob held Mark's, and Gary, in the most need of help with his magic, was in the centre of them all.

They bowed once, and Jason started working on the spell Nigella had taught him, whispering the words he only barely understood, a mix of Sanskrit and Latin, under his breath. A second bow, and he could hear Howard saying the words with him and started feeling the power building around them. The third bow was when they were meant to complete the spell, and that's where it all went wrong.

He'd begun to think that Cowell was going to let them go without a fight, that she'd just shown up to witness the unravelling of her scheme. But then Jason saw her mouth moving, saw her raise her arms, and he was hit by a wall of power just as he'd been about to complete the spell.

He staggered and struggled to hold onto Howard, to keep the boys together, to keep his own spell from shredding in his mind. He could feel Howard's hand slipping from his grasp and was starting to think that they weren't going to make it, when the next stage of Nigella's plan was unleashed.

Jamie and Paula raised their own hands from where they stood on opposite sides of Cowell. A writhing mass of what looked like electric green webbing formed between them, wrapping itself around Cowell.

Cowell screamed in frustration, but the webbing held her, even as the rest of the people in the club ran for cover or launched their own defensive spells.

"Jamie and Paula are the best bodyguard practitioners in England," Nigella had told them when she was outlining her strategy two days ago. "Nobody can get past their defense spells. Not even Cowell." Nigella had been right. They were holding Cowell in place with no obvious effort, though Jason knew from performing how difficult it was to make something look like it wasn't difficult at all.

But holding Cowell had been only the first part of Nigella's plan. Now she started on the second part. From where she stood at the bar, she ran her own spell, the most important spell, the one that would break the magic Cowell had used to bind them to this world, the one that would let them get home without dying.

Jason felt the exact moment her spell had worked. There was a tugging at his chest, as if someone was plucking a string around his heart until it snapped. The snapping hurt, but with the hurt came relief and a sense of freedom he only realized now that he'd been missing.

"Your turn, love!" Nigella yelled at him. "It's up to you!"

He took Howard's hand in a firm grip once again, and looked down the stage to see the boys were all ready. They all looked back at him, determined and a little scared, and nodded.

"Go on," Howard told him, and squeezed his hand.

He smiled at Howard, and then closed his eyes, focusing like Nigella had taught him, and said the words of the spell one last time.

It was like travelling to their world with Nigella, only this time the other four lads were travelling with him, following his lead. He'd been back twice now, so his spirit knew where it was going, seeking out its own body with greater speed than before, no longer hampered by the binding spell. 

They flew through the void, until he could feel them approaching their world, their Earth. And as they approached, he could feel Jayshri and the girls pass them on the way back to their own world.

_Godspeed, Jayshri,_ Jason said, and felt her gratitude in reply. 

But then they were past the girls and approaching Earth, England, London, the Marquee club. And then they were there, solidly in their own bodies, no longer girls, but boys, with cocks instead of tits, with hips that were slim instead of broad, and with stubble on their chins. They were alive, they were themselves, and they were in the middle of taking a bow in front of a bunch of pillocks in suits and a dozen screaming girls who seemed to have no idea that there'd just been an epic magical battle in a club just like this in another world, another dimension. From the side of the stage, Lulu looked over them fondly.

They looked at the crowd, and then they looked at each other, and then they all had their arms around each other and were laughing and crying in relief.

* * *

The celebration continued in the dressing room.

The room was as tatty as it had been in the girls' world, with graffiti covering the walls, furniture that looked like it should have been binned years ago, and air that smelt of stale beer, but it didn't affect Howard's mood. They were home, they were themselves, and they were all alive and safe and well.

Robbie and Mark bounced around the room, Gary patted everyone on the back, and Jason smiled non-stop. Lulu came in to congratulate them all, and was her usual lovely self, though Howard kept half expecting her to cast a spell to send fireworks through the room.

Lulu left just as Nigel walked in, and as quickly as that, the mood in that small space changed from ecstatic to tense.

"What are you lot acting so pleased about?" he said.

Howard found himself moving closer to Jason, putting himself between band mate and manager.

"Gary, well done, but the rest of you..." Nigel curled his lip. "You were all bleeding pathetic." He turned to Mark and Robbie. "You two were as sloppy as I've ever seen you, and that's saying a lot." He spun on his heel, and stared down Howard. "Howard, you needed more energy out there. I told you the number wouldn't be as good without the back flips, never mind how small the stage is. The dancing's what you're being paid for." Nigel pushed Howard out of the way, and looked at Jason, and his expression went from unpleasant to absolutely vicious. "And you...I'm not sure what I'm paying you for at all. I always knew you couldn't sing, but today you couldn't even dance."

Jason looked gutted. His eyes showed panic, and Howard could see his hands shaking. It was worse than seeing him bloodied and unconscious after using magic. At least he'd fought back after that. Now he looked as if all the fight had gone from him.

"Leave him alone," Howard said, once more stepping between Nigel and Jason.

"Get out of my way." Nigel poked Howard in the chest.

"No." He couldn't quite believe he was finally standing up to Nigel, but it felt good. It felt satisfying. It felt like something he should have done from the start.

"I can sack you both." And there it was, the thing that had kept Howard from speaking up against Nigel's petty tyrannies and worse for years: the fear of being sacked. But the fear was gone now. Being sacked was far from the worse thing he could imagine. Letting Nigel inflict yet another wound on Jason, that was the thing he couldn't allow.

Howard opened his mouth to say...something. He wasn't sure what. "Try it," perhaps. Or "fuck off." But he didn't get a chance, because Gary stepped forward and pulled Nigel's attention away from him.

"You'll have to sack us all," Gary said.

"What?" Nigel looked amazed, as if he couldn't believe he'd heard Gary right.

"I said, you'll have to sack us all." Gary looked almost as amazed as Nigel at what he was saying, but he didn't back down. "Because we're not putting up with your shite anymore." 

"We're not letting you bully any of us," Mark jumped in to say. "Especially not Jason."

"You'd risk everything for _him_?" Nigel pointed a finger at Jason, and if he'd been amazed before, now he was in complete shock.

"He's risked everything for us," Rob said, which left Nigel looking confused, and Howard feeling proud. Because Rob standing up to Nigel was great, but given how much they wound each other up, Rob standing up to him for Jason was fucking amazing. And it was true. If Jason hadn't worked with Nigella, hadn't risked Cowell's spell killing him, then none of them would have made it back. "We owe him."

"Well, I don't owe him anything. He owes me. You all owe me." Nigel was screaming by this point, and Howard noticed James and Paul lurking at the threshold of the door, looking concerned and uncertain.

"We don't owe you." The voice was quiet and gentle, and came from behind Howard. It was Jason's voice. Howard turned around. Jason's back was straight, his chin was up, and the fear was gone from his face. He looked assured and poised, the way he'd done in the other world when Nigella had shown such confidence in him.

"What did you say?"

"I said, we don't owe you. Anything." Jason stepped forward. "We're not going to let you intimidate us." He took one more step, so now he was just inches from Nigel, and towered over him. Why hadn't he ever realized Jason was taller than Nigel? "We're not going to work with you anymore."

"You don't have a choice," Nigel sneered. "I've got contracts with all of you."

"Contracts can be broken," Gary said, his voice calm.

"Not without a fight. And surely you're all at least bright enough to know that you won't get rid of me without a fight."

Howard shuddered. Nearly four years they'd worked with Nigel, and they'd seen how nasty he could be when attacking an enemy. 

"I don't think you'll fight us," Rob said, and Howard thought he looked remarkably calm, considering Nigel had terrorized him nearly as much as he'd gone after Jason.

"Then you're more stupid than I thought," Nigel said.

"I don't think you'll want us going to the tabloids with what we know about you," Rob said.

"There's nothing you can threaten me with, you little bastard."

Howard looked over at Jason, and took his hand. Jay looked pale, but he nodded, and  
Howard drew in a sharp breath. They were going to do this. They were really going to do it, burn their bridges with Nigel and strike out on their own. They were going to use their voices, just like Nigella had told them to do.

"Jay can," Howard said. "Can't you Jay?"

"Yeah," Jason said. He sounded calm, but he squeezed Howard's hand so hard that Howard nearly yelped. "Yeah, I can."

Nigel looked at Jason long and hard without saying anything for a good minute.

"Anything you think you can use against me, Jason, is just your word against mine."

"Maybe that's enough," Jason said.

"Actually," James said, as he and Paul finally stepped into the room, "it's our word against yours, too."

"If either of you says anything against me, I'll make sure you never work again." Nigel was sputtering with rage, but even Howard could see it was the last desperate tactic of a beaten man.

"I don't care," Paul said. "It never sat right with me, what you've done to Jason."

"Nor with me," James said.

"We'll put it right, if we can."

Howard honestly thought in that moment that he could have kissed both of their bodyguards.

"You've chosen the wrong side," Nigel said. "You'll see."

"I think we've finally chosen the right side," James said.

"Now, fuck off, Nige," Howard said.

Nigel puffed himself up, and for a moment Howard thought the bastard was actually going to front it out, but then he deflated like an old football stuck at the back of a school shed and slunk away without another word.

There was absolute quiet in the dressing room as they all took in what they'd done.

"I feel like we've killed a Dalek," Gary said, a gobsmacked look on his face.

That set the rest of them off, with Mark and Robbie singing the Doctor Who theme and Gary shaking hands with James and Paul.

Jason stood in the centre of it all, absolutely still, with no expression on his face.

"You alright?" Howard asked him.

"Yeah," Jason said without looking at Howard, his voice a monotone. Then he shook himself, turned to Howard, a lost look on his face. "I think I know how soldiers must feel at the end of a war. I can't quite believe it's over."

"Well, it's not completely over." Howard didn't like to be the voice of doom, but it didn't hurt to be realistic. "You know Nigel. He won't give up that easily."

"Yeah, but the worst of it's over. For me."

Howard was struck then by how alone Jason must have felt the past few years, carrying a secret he didn't feel he could share, wronged by someone who should have been protecting him. He wanted to say something to make him feel better, but nothing sounded good enough. So instead, he put his arms around Jason and held him as tightly as he could, promising with his body what he couldn't with his words.

Jason shifted in his grasp, and then gave him a tentative kiss on his cheek. When Howard pulled back far enough to see him, Jason was looking at him with a hesitant expression.

"Do you still…" Jason began, then faltered.

"Do I still what?" Howard asked, unsure what was going through Jason's head.

There was a long pause, during which Jason stared at his chest.

"Do you still want me?" he finally asked. "As a boyfriend," he added, then looked up and started talking far too fast. "Because I'll understand if you don't. Being boyfriends here is more complicated than being girlfriends there, and there isn't really a gay pop star here, is there? Except for Elton and he doesn't count because everyone loves Elton. And-" 

"Shut up, Jay" Howard said, because Jason probably would have gone on talking and over-analyzing their situation until he'd talked himself out of it entirely. And he wasn't about to let that happen. And then, to make sure Jason understood how he felt, he kissed him, a proper mouth open, teeth clashing sort of kiss, complete with stubble. The sort of kiss one would never give a friend, only a lover. "Does that answer your question?" he asked when he finally pulled away.

Jason's answer was his biggest smile. And then Howard realized the other boys, and James and Paul, were clapping and cheering them on. 

"I think they approve," he said, nodding to where Rob and Mark were grinning at them.

"Good," said Jason, before he gave him his own mouth open, teeth clashing sort of kiss.

Life, Howard decided, was going to be so much more interesting from now on.

* * *

"Give us a fag, Mark." Rob reached over and took the cigarette Mark was holding out for him, lit it, and took a drag of smoke deep into his lungs. Beside him, Mark smoked his own cig as they looked out over the city.

It had become a habit with the two of them, finding their way to the roof of whatever hotel they were staying at. It was a way of getting some fresh air without braving the crowds of fans that would follow them if they just went for a walk. And, Rob had to admit, it appealed to the daredevil in him. They often had to pick a lock or two to get to the roof, and once on the roof they'd see how close to the edge they could sit.

They were sitting right on the edge of this roof. The Kensington Hilton, where James and Paul had taken them after the gig, wasn't quite so posh as the Savoy, but it was nice enough, and its roof was enormous, perfect for two pop stars who wanted to get away from it all. They were both letting their legs dangle as they looked at the city lights. James and Paul would have both had fits if they'd known what they were doing, which made it even more fun.

"So," he said between drags on his cigarette. "What do you think about Howard and Jason?"

"I think it's brilliant they're really together," Mark said.

"Yeah. I don't think we'll see them for a few days. I reckon they're doing the honeymoon thing." He'd noticed a Do Not Disturb sign on their door when they'd snuck out to come up to the roof.

"Yeah," Mark said with a leer that might have shocked someone who didn't know him very well, but made Rob smile. 

"Do you want to do the honeymoon thing?" Rob asked as he stubbed out his cigarette. Because boy or girl, he still fancied Mark rotten.

"I want to do the fooling around thing," Mark said. "I don't think I'm ready to be husband material."

"Perfect, 'cause neither am I." He swung his legs over onto the roof, grabbed Mark's hand, and pulled him up. "Let's go." 

Rob didn't reckon he and Mark would last forever, not like Howard and Jason would, but he did reckon they were going to have a bloody good time however long they lasted.

* * *

Gary sat on the bed in his hotel room, the phone book open in front of him. He'd picked it up on a whim, remembering that someone had told him Dawn had moved to Clapham to look for work in London. And there was the listing: D. Andrews in Clapham.

_Go and look for your Dawn_ , Don had told him. And there she was, waiting for him in the phone book.

But now that he knew where she was, what should he do?

Call? Send flowers? Knock on her door? Nothing seemed quite right, and he didn't want to scare her off before she'd had a chance to get to know him.

Call, he finally decided. It wasn't too late, and it wasn't quite as high pressure as if he'd turned up on her doorstep. He picked up the phone and dialled the number before he could talk himself out of it. As the phone rang, he felt his heart beating faster in his chest. He was nearly about to hang up out of sheer panic when someone picked the phone up.

"Hello?" a female voice said.

"Is this Dawn Andrews?" Gary asked.

"Yes." She sounded reluctant to talk, and no wonder. She probably thought he was going to try and sell her double glazing.

He tried to find the perfect thing to say, and found he couldn't. But fortune favoured the brave, so he just started rambling, and put his life in the hands of fate. 

"This is a bit mad, and I don't know if you remember me, but we did a video shoot together years ago and I've never forgotten you. I'm Gary Barlow…"


End file.
